Conflict Storm
by OseanSoldier
Summary: Humanity continues to struggle against the technologically superior Latorii Empire. Many battles are lost for every victory the Alliance of Confederate Systems manages to claim. Many fear that humanity's days may be numbered in the face of their genocidal adversary. Even then, there are those who continue to fight, never yielding despite the hardships they endure.
1. Raytheon Skirmish

Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 20th, 3340, Raytheon System-

One week has passed since the first Imperial Latorii scouts jumped into the system. We engaged and destroyed the small reconnaissance fleet with heavy jamming in effect. It is not believed that they were able to report the presence of a human colony in the Raytheon System. Needless to say, they will be back and with greater numbers. The Alliance of Confederate Systems declared a state of emergency and that Raytheon was to be evacuated of all civilians. Quite a daunting task, but one that we have sadly gotten quite good at. Of the one billion colonists, only a few million remain. The next wave of evacuation transports arrive in one day and should be able to finish the getting the civilians out of the system.

It pains me to see yet another planet fall... We will be staying and fighting off their advanced troops, but once the main Latorii force arrives we will cascade jump out along with the rest of the fleet. A fleet of which I am currently in command of, much to their displeasure. Some things never change... despite my many victories, if they can be called that, I have yet to gain much trust or respect from the majority of the ACS Naval Fleet. I doubt that will change after this battle as well. I guess I should count myself lucky that my crew is willing to follow me to hell and back.

We are currently stationed in orbit around the primary star of the Raytheon system, lying in wait for any Latorii ships that may jump into the system. It has been quiet the past few days, but I have a feeling that is about to change. Latorii doctrine is somewhat predictable, whether it be from their comfortable advantage over humanity or internal stubbornness, I do not know. However, their doctrine calls for another group to be sent in one week after losing contact with a scouting force. I have a feeling that there will be a battle before this day is out.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship _Fairlock_

* * *

"Sir, cascade event in progress, range ninety-two klicks. Bearing zero-seven-nine off the port side, zero-one-zero up angle."

"Mikael, evaluation," Storm called out from the commander's chair in the heavily armored bridge.

"Data indicates that a capital class ship along with several smaller ships are exiting hyperspace," the robotic voice of the ship's AI answered. "No ACS ships are scheduled to arrive in the Raytheon system for another twenty-four hours. Further analysis of the hyper cloud concludes that it is an Imperial FTL jump conclusion. Recommend sounding general quarters in preparation for enemy contact."

"Admiral, get the fleet ready," Storm ordered.

"You heard the commander," Admiral Mark Horner, the _Fairlock_ 's second in command, called out, "I want this ship rigged for combat. Signal the Corvettes into offensive wedge formation."

"Commander, cascade jump has completed, pulling up the enemy fleet on the main screen now."

"Mikael, rapid count," Storm said as a multitude of curved, white ships appeared on the screen.

"One Majestic Class Interdictor, two Cutters, and five Clippers are present in the enemy fleet. Standard composition of a Latorii heavy scout unit. Current fleet power ratio is five to three in our favor," Mikael spat out. The ACS fleet at Raytheon was rather meager as far ACS fleets usually went. A sole Fletcher class battlecruiser, five Corvettes, and six Assault Ships, but it was still enough to combat a heavy scout fleet.

"So it would seem they didn't know we were here..." Storm muttered, relaxing a bit more into his chair. The thirty-four year old officer had loose, slightly longer than regulation black hair to go with his sapphire blue eyes. He stood at a less than average five feet, seven inches tall due to certain family traits, but was more than capable of punching above his weight.

While the _Fairlock_ 's ECM suite was capable of jamming the smaller vessels, they had no hope of jamming an Interdictor's communications. Raytheon's existence was about to become known to the Latorii Empire.

"Commander, the Corvettes are in position and the Assault Ships are in their attack formation," the communications officer called out.

"Bring us on intercept bearing at flank speed and launch our fighters and strike craft," Storm ordered as he watched the enemy fleet start to get into its own battle formation around their lone capital ship.

"Aye, sir."

Moments later, the massive engines of the battlecruiser went to full power, propelling the two kilometer long ship towards the Latorii fleet. The Corvettes were slightly ahead of the battlecruiser while the Assault Ships flew ahead of the fleet, weapons deployed and ready for the coming fight. A few minutes passed before squadrons from the _Fairlock_ caught up with the Assault Ships. Two squadrons of Vulture heavy fighters and one squadron of Viper torpedo bombers with each squadron containing twelve craft.

By now, range between the fleets was rapidly diminishing and both side deployed their weapons in preparation for combat. Four massive twin barreled railguns came of each side of the _Fairlock_ with another two popping out of the hull in superfiring positions on both sides of the superstructure for a total of twelve batteries.

"Enemy fleet is within effective firing range," Mikael reported once the fleets closed to fifty kilometers.

"Commence firing," Storm ordered coldly.

It was deadly silent as the four railguns around the command bridge opened fire. The only indication from the bridge that the massive electromagnetic cannons had fired being the eight streaks of blue light that briefly appeared on either side of the short superstructure. The ten thousand pound slugs raced through the vacuum of space at speeds in excess of Mach twenty. It took a little over seven seconds before the hypersonic slugs impacted their targets. The effects were devastating. While the Interdictor managed to shrug off the four shells that hit it with minimal damage, the two Clippers that the shells impacted were utterly destroyed. The slugs instantly broke through their powerful shields and punctured their hull armor as if it didn't exist. Two shells hit each ship head on, allowing them to run the entire length of the ships and exit out the other side. Seconds later, both ships exploded moments apart from each other.

However, such destruction was not one sided. Long range Imperial lasers from the Majestic Class Interdictor flashed against the blackness of space, the blue tinted lasers reach the Allied ships instantly. The smaller Vultures and Vipers proved to be difficult targets to hit, but the larger Assault Ships took the brunt of the laser fire. Their shields glowing purple as the absorbed the energy weapon fire. The ships being concentrated on put all their power to their shields, falling behind the ships that could manage to keep their engines at full thrust.

After a minute of laser fire, the first three Assault Ships finally succumbed to the high intensity lasers, having lost their shields ten seconds earlier. While the Assault Ships had strong armor, they stood no chance of standing up the three main batteries of the Imperial capital ship. By this time, the next salvo from the _Fairlock_ 's railguns ripped through space as the massive cannons finished their reload and recharge cycle. Another Clipper exploded as a ten thousand pound slug tore through the length of the ship, pulverizing the ship's reactor. Four slugs slammed into the powerful shields of a Cutter, managing to drain a significant portion of the warship's shields but not enough to break through them entirely.

The two fleets were a mere twenty-five kilometers apart now. The Vultures punched their engines to the max as Imperial Eagles showed up on their scanners, closing to engage the Allied strike craft. Seconds later, orange lasers from the Allied ships lashed against blue Imperial lasers as the two sides collided. While the Vultures were more maneuverable and carried two large pulse lasers, the Eagles were faster and carried a greater number of smaller weapons.

The Vipers and Assault Ships pressed through the dogfight, intent on striking the Latorii fleet with their ordinance. Burst laser turrets from the underside and dorsal section of the Assault Ships tore at the Eagles as they screamed past the engaged fighters. Distance to the enemy fleet was rapidly approaching their torpedo range. The fifteen surviving strike craft pressed towards the Clippers, intent on leaving the larger ships for the Corvettes and _Fairlock_. The Interdictor had shifted its three primary batteries to the closer capital ship, while the Cutters and Clippers opened fire on the attack Assault Ships and Vipers. Blue lasers tore at their shields, quickly dropping the Vipers while the Assault Ships managed to weather the intense fire.

By now, their own lasers had started working over the Imperial shields, the barriers giving off a blue glow as the orange lasers burned against them. The Assault Ships flew in circles around their targeted Clipper, each craft's two burst laser turrets working over the Clipper's shield as it struggled to keep its weapon arcs pointed towards the circling Assault Ships. The Clipper's two large turrets that were mounted on its engine pods fired pulses of blue laser at the Allied ships whenever possible. Luckily for the Clipper, the other Latorii ships in the fleet were focusing their fire on Allied ships. Several of the Vipers had already been downed as they made strafing runs with their beam lasers. They would come in fast unleashing solid beams of orange energy on their target, working over its shields before flying past it and circling back around for another pass.

It didn't take long before the Clipper's shields were depleted and gave way from the near continuous fire. Once this was completed, all three Assault Ships broke off their attack and formed up once again before circling around towards the shieldless Clipper, each let loose two torpedoes before breaking off under a hail of fire from the other Latorii ships. The six torpedoes impacted and exploded across various points of the Clipper, tearing it to shreds as one of the wings and its engine pod broke off from the main body of the ship.

* * *

"Mikael, status report!" Storm called out as the ship shuddered from the impact of another volley of Imperial lasers from the Interdictor.

"Starboard side, dorsal railguns have been destroyed. Hull breach has been sealed off. Forward hull armor is currently at sixty-two percent and falling. Fifty percent, correction, sixty-six percent of Assault Ships have been lost, fifty-eight percent of Vipers have been lost, twenty-five percent of Vultures have been lost, and twenty percent of Corvettes have been lost," Mikael listed off in his computerized voice, showing no emotion while doing so.

"Enemy losses include one-hundred percent of Clippers, fifty percent of Cutters, and eighty percent of Eagles. Estimated time till enemy collapse is three minutes and thirty-eight seconds," the AI finished.

"Helmsman, bring our port broadside to bear! I want all available railguns firing on that Interdictor, mark their primary weapons and drive systems as a primary target!" Storm ordered as several smaller thrusters around the ship burst to life, forcing the massive battlecruiser to spin as it advanced toward the Latorii fleet. It took a bit for the large ship to rotate, but once it had completed the maneuver all six batteries on the port side of the warship loosed their ten thousand pound slugs at the Imperial capital ship. Four slugs slammed into two of the already battered main turrets of the massive, white ship, snapping them clean off the hull. The other eight shells all impacted the area surrounding the capital ship's primary engines. However, the engine housing's armor manage to hold out against the first railgun salvo.

The next concentrated salvo of railgun fire barely managed to crack through the thick armor, allowing at least one of the massive slugs to pass through engines, tearing them apart. With one of its engines destroyed, the massive ship began to momentary fall out of formation before lateral thrusters on the front of the ship corrected its course.

"Commander, all strike craft have exhausted their ammunition and are requesting permission to jump out of the combat zone," Admiral Horner relayed. The lone surviving Assault Ship and four Vipers sped away from the crippled enemy fleet. Both officers knew they were already charging their frameshift drives, not waiting for official orders to jump away, back to the planet and the star base that orbited above it.

"Granted," Storm replied. The order was relayed and received just before the five ships disappeared in flashes of light.

By now the battle was wrapping up, the only enemy ship capable of fighting was the Majestic Class Interdictor and even it was crippled as this point. Two thirds of its primary weapons were destroyed and almost half of its main engines torn apart. Even now he could see the massive ship's engines struggling to turn around and point away from the nearby star and attempt to jump out of the system. However, in doing so, it exposed its engines to the unmasked batteries of the _Fairlock_. The next and final salvo tore into the thinly armored rear of the engines, destroying all of the primary drives of the Latorii capital ship and shredding the power reactors on the inside of the craft.

The Latorii ship slowly drifted to a halt before the gravitation field from the star started pulling it in. While it would still take quite a while, the Interdictor was doomed to fall into the massive fusion reactor that breathed life to the Raytheon system. Already, escape pods could be seen jettisoning from the capital ship as it was slowly pulled toward its death.

"Combat complete," Mikael reported as the entire bridge crew let out a sigh. "All enemy ships destroyed. The fleet has lost over fifty percent of its combat effectiveness. Withdrawal from the system is recommended."

"Sorry Mikael, you know we cannot withdraw till all civilians are evacuated," Storm replied, though he knew the AI was correct. They could not survive another encounter with any decently capable Latorii fleet.

"Acknowledged," the AI responded.

"Horner, get the search and rescue going. There are undoubtedly pilots out there that would like to be picked up. You have the con," Storm ordered as he stood up from his chair and headed towards the hangers.

"Aye, sir," Mark answered before relaying Storm's orders.

* * *

Several Dropships were departing from the hangers as Storm arrived, the combat utility vessels passing through one of the few shields on of the battlecruiser. Each craft made a sharp turn towards the bow of the vessel before accelerating forward, passing through the middle of the ship before racing into space.

"They all had their frameshift drives disabled, correct?" Storm asked the deck officer.

"Yes, sir, their suppressors are also fully charged and ready for any Latorii that they pick up. Don't want those wolves using their damn mind trick to take over one of my ships," the deck officer replied. "No offence, sir."

"None taken, Lieutenant Nelson," Storm replied with a laugh. It was something he had gotten used to after thirty some odd years. "So what is the pool up to now?"

"Sir?"

"You fully know what I am talking about," Storm countered with a smirk.

"Not much gets past you does it, sir?"

"There's seven thousand people on this ship, it's not hard to hear the rumors and other stories that get passed around. That or I could have used my 'damn mind tricks' to find out," Storm continued with a toothy grin.

"Well, for one, almost the entire crew has bought in at this point at one thousand credits each, so it's about... six point eight million credits last I checked," Nelson replied. "Any chance you could show me? We could split the winnings fifty-fifty."

"And ruin the fun? Nah," Storm said, crossing his arms across his chest. "Besides, if word got out that I showed you and split the money, chances are you would find yourself thrown out the nearest airlock."

"Heh, good point, sir," Nelson replied with a laugh.

"Once the Dropships are on their way back, start a head count for both sides," Storm ordered before making his way back to the bridge. Sure, everything he had just ordered could have been done via internal comms, but Storm enjoyed interacting with the crew of his ship. It was how he had earned their trust after all, despite the hostility they had shown him when he had been appointed this command as a... favor, to his father.

Storm didn't blame them, or anyone else, for their distrust of him at the time. But after five years of command, he had hoped more than his own ship's crew would see him for who he was, not what he was. He knew that he could force a small amount of respect out of a majority of the ACSNF due to his rank, but the civilians... his rank meant nothing to them. He could save their lives just for them to step on his tail moments later, both literally and figuratively.

An hour passed as the first of the Dropships started making its approach, coming in straight towards the bow before passing through the gap that ran down the middle of the ship where the hanger bays were housed. Storm was waiting on the second level of the hanger the Dropship was docking in. Marines armed with M395 DMR's stood at the ready, sights aimed down at the transport as its ramp lowered.

The first Latorii poked its muzzle around out of the opening, a very unpleasant scowl present on its face. A suppression collar was locked around its neck, making sure the anthropomorphic wolf was incapable of using its impressive psychic powers. A very handy device that Allied scientists had cooked up fifty years ago. The band would access their nervous system via the nerves in the on their spine and shut down the part that allowed them to use their powers.

In all, about half of the Allied pilots that were shot down were pulled from their escape pods, the other half becoming victims of war. As for the Latorii prisoners, about five hundred were pulled, quite forcibly, from their pods. A rather small number considering the size of their fleet, but most Latorii would rather die than be taken prisoner. Some of their more radical admirals had all the escape pods on their ships disabled.

"Quite the catch isn't it, sir," Horner said, stepping up next to his commanding officer.

"Guess more than a few didn't want to burn to death falling into a star," Storm replied with a chuckle before continuing in a more somber tone. "Still, there are probably thousands that are willing to. Majestic Class Interdictors have about the same crew compliment that our Farragut and Fletcher class ships have."

"You Latorii are a rather stubborn race, sir," Horner countered in a neutral tone.

"When one can read and take over minds, lift objects with simple motion of a paw, and change their physical appearance to others, one starts to believe they are better than everyone else," Storm sighed as he leaned forward on the railing before letting out a short chuckle. "It also causes some trust issues down the road."

"That it does, sir, that it does," Horner started with small laugh as well, momentarily allowing the breach in his professional appearance.

"I honestly don't know how you can stand to be in that uniform all the time," Storm said, punching his XO in the shoulder. The uniform in question was a rather formal looking attire in Storm's taste. It was mostly black with gold metal running around the edge of both shoulders, the cuffs of the sleeves, and down the middle where the jacket's buttons were. A ring of red ran around the cuffs of the sleeves with their own gold trim as well.

"Unlike you, someone has to look professional on this ship," Horner shot back, poking fun at Storm's more relaxed wardrobe which currently appear to consist of black steel-toed boots, black pants, and a long sleeve black shirt as he had ditched the overly decorative jacket and belt that Mark was wearing.

The sound of heavy foot step approaching the duo caught their attention. Upon turning to look at the source, they saw three armed marines in plated armor coming up to them.

"Commander Storm, Admiral Horner, all of the Dropships have returned. Our pilots have been sent to the medical bay for routine check-ups, and the Latorii prisoners have been detained in the mess hall under armed guard," the lead marine said upon arriving.

"Thank you, Colonel Bradley," Storm replied, nodding to the marines. "Make sure our guests don't cause any trouble. Have you already singled out and separated the officers?"

"Yes sir, in total there were twelve officers. It seems their admiral intends to go down with the ship as the highest rank among them was a lieutenant commander," Bradley responded.

"Alright, take the lieutenant to an interrogation room. I want to talk with him," Storm ordered.

"Yes, sir, want to chat with your family again?" the marine officer replied with a smirk.

"Sure, let's go with that," Storm said with a laugh, shaking his head at Bradley's prodding. It was a common joke that Storm had to put up with anytime they managed to take any Latorii prisoners.

* * *

Storm watched the Latorii officer's face cringe moments after he opened the holding cell door and stepped inside with the door closing behind him. It was followed by a glare of pure hatred and disgust. The Latorii was wearing a standard officer's uniform, pure white with bits of royal blue around the edges. A combination of white and grey fur covered the Imperial officer, made apparent by his revealed head and paws.

" _So, the traitor shows himself,"_ the wolf spat out in its native tongue.

" _Hard to betray that which I never had any loyalty to,"_ Storm replied in the alien language before sitting down across from the alien officer.

" _Ah, that is right. You're the offspring of the traitor and the ungodly abomination she called her mate."_

" _You know, our Naval Code still allows for executions of your kind, with or without cause. So unless you want to find yourself tossed out the nearest airlock, I suggest you leave my parents out of this,"_ Storm replied harshly.

" _Don't you mean 'our' kind? Besides, they have yet to execute you,"_ the Latorii replied, as if he were playing a game.

" _Wow, actually admitting that I am a Latorii, you're the first to do that. I might give you a suit when I though you out the airlock now,"_ Storm countered leaning back in his chair with a smirk, more than willing to play along with the officer in front of him.

" _Hardly, you still reek of human,"_ the anthropomorphic wolf scoffed, pouring as much hate as he could into his last word, _"But you still bear the scent of our kind. So why don't you drop the disguise already? Let's see the appearance of the offspring that treacherous bit-"_

Before the wolf could finish, his mouth was forcibly clamped shut. Storm was holding his right arm outstretched towards his prisoner, the end of his closed fist glowing in a faint blue light. The Latorii attempted to howl out in pain as one of his canines had just gone deep into his tongue, but Storm held a firm psionic grip on the wolf's muzzle.

" _I told you to leave my parents out of this,"_ Storm growled out, his eyes narrowed to slits. After a few more seconds, Storm finally relented as he opened his fist and pulled his arm back to his side. The Latorii across from him started coughing some, a small amount of blood splattering on the table. After a minute, the Latorii finally managed to regain his composure, though he was a bit more subdued.

" _So... was there a point to you coming here, or do you just enjoy torturing your own kind?"_ the Imperial officer quietly spat out, though his speech was a bit off.

" _No, I don't,"_ Storm replied in a steeled voice, _"I came here to see what you know about this system. Did the Latorii Empire know about our colony here prior to your arrival?"_

" _I don't see why I should tell you anything,"_ the wolf replied indignantly.

" _I have a theory, want to hear it?"_ Storm asked, a devilish grin working its way onto his face. After a few seconds a silence and only a scowl for an answer, Storm continued. _"You want to live. You, are not ready to die. Hence why we plucked you out of your little pod with some of your buddies. So I am going to give you a choice, either you tell me what you know, or I will personally throw you out an airlock. Your choice."_

A terse silenced ruled for a few seconds before the Latorii officer relented.

" _It was suspected..."_ the wolf replied with a defeated sigh. _"We were sent to investigate the disappearance of a recon fleet, one I assume you destroyed. There are only a few reasons that our fleets would just disappear, one of which being they had blundered into a human colony and its fleet."_

" _And did that suspicion lead to anything else? A stepped up time table before your advanced forces arrive maybe?"_ Storm inquired, fearing the answer yet already knowing it. He could see it in the wolf's face. After a few seconds, the wolf slowly nodded.

" _Yes... they were to depart forty-six hours after we did,"_ the Latorii conceded.

Storm wanted to cringe, but maintained a neutral expression. This evacuation was going to be cutting it awfully close... They would have only twenty-two hours to get the remaining civilians loaded onto transports and on their way once the ships arrived. While the massive transports wouldn't have any trouble landing on the planet and picking up passengers from the evacuation zones, they would not have time to ferry the remaining people from the two Orbis Stations that circled around the planet with one-hundred thousand people on each orbiting city.

" _Thanks for your cooperation,"_ Storm said coldly before standing up and leaving the small room.

"Sergeant, take him back to the others," Stormed ordered hastily before making his way to a communications terminal. After quickly punching in the code for the command bridge, Horner's face appeared on the screen.

"Horner, we got a problem, get Governor Price on the line, and I needed it yesterday," Storm said.

"Yes, sir," Admiral Horner replied before the screen went black. With the first task complete, Storm started walking at a brisk pace towards the bridge. Unfortunately the next part would neither be as easy nor pleasant; he and Governor Price did not get along. As he entered the bridge, Storm saw that the infuriating human was impatiently waiting for him on the main screen.

"Alright, mutt, what was so important that you h-" The rounded man answered, having clearly enjoyed the perks of being governor.

"Governor, please just shut up," Storm started, nearly growling at the man as he sat in his chair on the command bridge, "For I have neither the patience nor the time to put up with your arrogance. The main Latorii invasion fleet will be arriving in less than forty-five hours, a day and a half ahead of their normal assault doctrine. Given our current timetable, the evacuation of the Orbis Stations will not be finished. We need to start shuttling the stations populace to the evacuation zones on the planet's surface."

"Now you listen here, I will not be taking orders from an animal like you," Price replied rather angrily that Storm had the audacity to cut him off.

"I may be an animal to you, governor, but I am still more human than you ever will be," Storm managed to grind out, the idea of giving into his instincts and ripping the human's arm off almost sounded appealing. However, he knew better than actually do so; that and Price was currently several hundred light seconds away.

"You dare call yourself my equal?" Governor Price spat out, clearly disgusted at the thought of such an idea.

"Oh no governor, I would never say that we are equals," Storm started in a mockingly tone before switching to a much colder one, "You are clearly the lower being of the two of us. Now, I couldn't care less by now if you help us evacuate the orbital cities or not, just keep your lazy ass out of my way."

Before the enraged governor could respond, Storm slammed his fist on the console on his chair's armrest, slightly cracking the screen. The governor disappeared from the main screen as the transmission was terminated. After a few deep breaths, Storm managed to calm himself back down. With a final sigh, he leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling of the bridge.

"Well said, sir," Mark started, a noticeable smirk on his face. "Was about time that pig got a taste of his own words."

"Glad you agree. I won't lie, that felt good" Storm replied with a short laugh before letting out a sad sigh. "Anyways, the clock is ticking. Helmsman! Set course for Raytheon Three and begin frameshift jump sequence!"

"Aye, commander!"

* * *

Alright, those of you who have been around for a while will undoubtedly recognize this story as this is the THIRD time I have attempted to write it. This time though I have it nailed down. I have it filed under the "Elite" category as I have taken the ships from Elite: Dangerous. That is were the similarities end though. Nothing else really carries over to this story from the games. I even took a bit of creative liberty in regards to the _Fairlock_ as the Fletcher Class. There is no such thing in Elite, but it is based off the Farragut that is in game, trading its autocannons and torpedoes for railguns.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed! Feedback is much appreciated.


	2. Falcon Evacuation

Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 20th, 3340, High Orbit above Raytheon Three-

We arrived at Raytheon Three about an hour ago. The five remaining strike craft from the mission regrouped with us shortly after we completed our jump. They had docked and rearmed at Falcon Station, one of the Orbis Starports that circled high above the planet. We launched a squadron of Vultures as a combat air patrol just in case the Latorii arrived sooner than expected, though the chances of that were slim. However, it pays to err on the side of caution.

Regardless, we are not in as good a position as we were this morning. Half of our fleet has been destroyed and the _Fairlock_ sustained some damage during the battle around the star. While it wasn't crippling damage, it prevents the battlecruiser from operating at maximum efficiency; and that is something we cannot afford in this war. Unfortunately, there are no military docks capable of repairing our massive battlecruiser in the Raytheon System. With any luck it will not matter, as I do not intend on being here when the main Latorii force arrives.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship _Fairlock_

* * *

Storm watched from the bridge as the battlecruiser approached the massive orbiting city that managed to dwarf even the _Fairlock_. They were still fifty kilometers away from the space station and it still was a dominating structure. The forward thrusters on the vessel burst into life, slowing the gigantic ship down to a halt after seven kilometers of decelerating.

"Open a channel to Falcon, get me Captain Kyler," Storm said. Kyler was one of the few people in this system that he managed to get along with. Their fathers had been friends and that had been passed down to the two of them as well. After a few minutes, the human in question popped up on the main scene.

"Commander Storm, heard you boys had one hell of a battle this morning," Kyler started.

"That we did, Kyler. Sadly our losses were pretty heavy as well," Storm replied.

"My condolences to your men," Kyler said in a more somber tone before continuing. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I hate to be the barer of bad news, but one of the Latorii prisoners gave us some rather important information," Storm explained.

"Threaten to throw him out of an airlock again?" Kyler asked with a smirk.

"You know me too well, captain," Storm replied with a toothy grin before turning back to the business at hand. "Anyways, the problem is the Latorii fleet will be here in around forty-five hours. Our transports arrive in twenty-three hours."

"I see the problem…" Kyler sighed out as he leaned back in his chair, throwing his legs up on his desk. "I assume you've got a plan?"

"That I do old friend. We are going to use the marine's Dropships to evacuate the stations. They can carry up to one hundred people at a time and we've got a full complement of ten Dropships onboard the _Fairlock_. That, and the four remaining Corvettes are capable of taking on about five hundred people each as their marine barracks are empty right now."

"So three thousand people per trip…" Kyler started before crunching some numbers in his head. "Still going to take you about thirty-four round trips to completely evacuate Falcon. And what about Eagle Station? We've got two hundred thousand people still in orbit with forty hours to get them either on the planet or in the transports once they return to orbit. That's five thousand people an hour, think you can manage that?"

"Mikael, can our ships sustain two trips an hour for forty hours?" Storm asked, hoping the AI would have some good news.

"The Dropships will be able to handle the constant re-entry pressure and heat generated from continuous trips to the planet's surface. However, the Corvettes were not designed with such conditions in mind. I can guarantee that their heat shields will hold for twenty re-entries before showing signs of fatigue," the AI answered.

"It will have to do. Besides, once the transports have finished evacuating the planet and return to orbit, we won't have to worry about the Corvettes' heat shields. That, and the time to complete a round trip will decrease," Storm said. "Also, our Dropships won't be coming in empty; I've got some prisoners for your brig."

"Alright, I'll start the evacuation protocol now and have security forces waiting for the Dropships. Thanks for your help, Daniel," Kyler responded before the screen went black.

Storm let out a small laugh; Kyler was one of the few people he let get away with calling him his first name.

"Mark, see to it that the Dropships and Corvettes get their orders. I am going to Falcon to help with the evacuation," Storm started as he got up from his chair.

"Are you sure that is a good idea, sir?" Horner questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll be fine," Storm said, waving a hand in the air. "Admiral Horner, you have the con."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

Storm passed his room as he made his way once again to the hangar deck of the massive battlecruiser and changed into a flight suit. As much as he hated the mesh suits and their clinginess, he knew that it was foolish to go without it. He also grabbed a black, two foot long metal rod; it had hollowed out ends, and a groove perpendicular to the length of the rod in the middle. He swung the rod around and magnetically clipped it in position on his back.

It didn't take him long to reach his destination with his helmet secured under his left arm. Mechanics were visible throughout the bay, most of them working to repair battle damage to the Vultures. He walked over to the part of the hanger where the few personal crafts were stored. He walked up to a vessel that very much resembled the Imperial Eagles which the fighters had engaged earlier that day. The two major differences were that it was painted stark black in contrast to the pure white of Latorii craft, and that it lacked the pods on the end of its forward swept wings.

"You out of here as well, commander?" A recognizable voice called from behind Storm as he walked up the narrow ramp that ran under the belly of the small fighter.

"Going to help with the evacuation," Storm said as he looked over his shoulder and spotted Lieutenant Nelson, datapad in hand.

"Right… help… you sure about that?" Nelson countered, looking quite skeptical at the claim.

"Not you as well..." Storm sighed, rolling his eyes and punching in the code that would open the door that would let him into his ship.

"Sorry, sir, it's just that people tend to hate your guts," Nelson replied with a smirk.

"Right, well hopefully I will be able to give them a reason not to in the future," Storm countered quietly as the door slid open with a hiss. Nelson silently nodded before going back to his work.

The door closed behind Storm as he brought the helmet up to his head. It was quite unique compared to any other helmet in the fleet. There were two major differences, the face plate and the top. Instead of being flat beneath the visor, it extruded a bit as to conform to a canine's head. On top, instead of being rounded, there were two pointed ears that came out from the helmet. Storm carefully put the helmet on before giving it a small twist, locking it onto his flight suit.

With that complete, he took the rod off of his back and put it in a small compartment before passing a few seats and climbing up a short ladder to the cockpit of the Eagle. After sitting down, the chair spun around and slid forward to the controls. Storm quickly punched in the necessary commands before the ship's power turned on before he strapped himself in. Seconds later, the low whine of the Eagle's engines became apparent. With all systems showing green, Storm diverted most of the power to engines leaving only some for the shields.

Pushing his thumb up on the switch atop his flight stick, the vertical thrusters underneath burst to life. The Eagle slowly rose off the deck of the hanger, the ramp underneath the forward underbelly along with two landing struts in the rear retracted into the fighter as Storm flipped a switch to his left. Placing his left hand back on the throttle, he pushed it forward slightly. The ship moved forward as its main engines glowed with blue light behind the main fuselage. The Eagle passed through the shield that kept the atmosphere inside the hangar before Storm twisted his control stick to the left, spinning the ship towards the front of the battlecruiser. With his path cleared, Storm punched his throttle all the way forward.

The fighter quickly accelerated down the middle of the _Fairlock_ before emerging from the bow. It did not take him long before he was cruising comfortably towards the Orbis starport forty kilometers in front of him. It took him a little over two minutes to reach Falcon Station before he engaged the reverse thrusters, slowing the ship down. Looking down to his left, a panel appeared on his HUD. A few quick commands later, Storm had his docking clearance for the station. He had opted to use his ACS override clearance to gain the landing pad instead of having to deal with traffic controllers that would deny him several times.

The Eagle passed through the shielded letterbox of the station, having to spin the craft to keep up with the rotation of the station. It didn't take Storm long to maneuver the Eagle over his the pad, the ship's computer keeping track the station's rotation and keeping the Eagle in the same relative position. Through the cockpit, Storm could see the _Fairlock_ 's Dropship and Corvettes on various landing pads.

Storm flicked a switch and the landing gear deployed out from the underside of his fighter. Pulling down on the switch at the top of his stick, the thrusters on top of the Eagle pushed it gently down onto the pad, the ship shuddering ever so slightly as it magnetically attached. After entering in one quick command, the pad began to lower. Once it reached the bottom, it spun around before progressing backwards and stopping. With his fighter successfully docked, Storm powered all the systems down before unbuckling himself. His chair slid back and turned slightly, allowing Storm to float up in the low gravity environment. Twisting his helmet slightly, he carefully took it off before attaching it to the wall at the back of the cockpit.

Storm always enjoyed low gravity environments. Most ships and stations didn't have the new artificial gravity generators with which the _Fairlock_ was equipped, as they were incredibly power hungry machines. While the space stations had the power for them, it was deemed unnecessary as most of them simulated gravity via rotation and centripetal acceleration. However, the docking bays were in the center of the station and therefore had very little induced gravity.

He pushed of the ceiling and floated down the vertical passageway that lead to the exit ramp. After retrieving the black, metal rod from its compartment and securing it to his back, Storm opened the door and floated out of his craft. Sure he could have been using the magnetic locks on his boots, but he decided to just enjoy being able to float around. It didn't take him long to reach the exit of the small hangar bay his ship was docked in. Even inside the considerably noisy hanger area of the station, Storm could hear the alarms blaring throughout the entire station and see red lights flashing down the hallways. While the alarms were not terribly loud, his advanced hearing made it a bit more noticeable.

"Evacuation protocol is effect. All alpha section residence are to precede in a calm and orderly fashion to the docking bay for transportation," a robotic, female voice rang over the station's PA system. "Bravo section residence, please prepare for immediate evacuation and standby till previous section has completed evacuation."

While such announcements would usually cause wide amounts of panic and chaos, it was one that the residence of Falcon Station had been expecting. However, it was a bit earlier than they anticipated. A few people had to hastily prepare the last of the meager luggage they were permitted to take with them.

Storm floated through the maze of hallways, using his psychic power to push off walls when needed. It took him about twenty minutes to make his way to the command center of the Falcon Station. A few people had given him strange looks as he floated around rather than walked. Thankfully no one seemed to truly recognize him, evident by the lack of angry glares and degrading insults. There were two marines stationed outside the entrance to the room. It was then that Storm finally twisted his body around, allowing his magnetic boots to catch the plating that made up the floor. He walked up to the marines, who saluted when he got close.

"Sergeant, I am here to see Captain Kyler," Storm said, saluting back at the two soldiers, both of whom were taller than him.

"Of course, Commander Savarin," the sergeant replied, stepping aside and letting the smaller, yet higher-ranking officer through.

"The first of the Dropships is loaded and departing now, captain," an officer called out from his station.

"Good, try and keep them spaced out, we don't need them all departing and arriving at the same time," Kyler responded. All around him was a hive of activity. Around fifty people were manning different consoles and monitoring the evacuation.

"I see that things are going relatively well," Storm stated as he walked up behind the civilian captain.

"Yeah… as well as things can go," Kyler replied with a small laugh as he stood up and held out a hand toward his short friend. Storm returned the gesture, grasping the hand in a bone crushing grip.

"It's good to see you again old friend," Storm said as he released Kyler's hand.

"Do you have to cut off the blood to my hand every time?" Kyler asked with a laugh, shaking his hand to try and make it stop tingling. "Anyways, your prisoners are locked up under guard. What do you propose doing with them after we are through evacuating?"

"If we have the room, we will take them with us. Have them dispersed in small groups throughout the fleet," Storm answered.

"And if we don't," Kyler countered, raising an eyebrow.

"Leave them on the planet's surface. If their fleet glasses it with them on the surface, it won't be our fault they're dead," Storm replied.

"Quite noble of your Daniel," Kyler started as he sat back down. "Most commanders I know would just purge the brig, vent all the atmosphere out and let them suffocate."

"I'm no fan of killing unarmed prisoners, Latorii or human," Storm sighed, "If we keep killing them in mass, they have no reason to stop doing it to us. My people may have started this war, but humanity is going to win it."

"Quite optimistic of you," Kyler said as the monitors indicated yet another Dropship full of civilians had exited the station.

"I have faith in humanity, just like my mother does," Storm somberly replied.

"How is she doing nowadays?" Kyler inquired, leaning back in his chair and throwing his feet up onto his desk.

"Still in the Alpha Centauri system working on helping close the technology gap between us and the Latorii," Storm answered. "So close to actually being able to see Earth, yet so far at the same time."

"God bless her, we need all the assistance we can get," Kyler stated before turning his attention back to the screens. "If you want to help, hangar bay thirty-nine is a bit short staffed right now. I am sure they would appreciate the support."

"Alright, it sounds more productive than me standing around here," Storm answered before turning around and heading out of the command center and back towards the hanger bays.

* * *

Hours soon passed as the evacuation was carried out, sadly it was not going as fast as they needed with the average round trip for the Corvettes taking about fifty minutes. Luckily the Dropships were able to complete the required two trips per hour. Not many people seemed to recognize the short, ACS commander helping the station crew. A few people did and muttered degrading insults as they passed by Storm, his advanced hearing easily picking them up even with all the background noise.

Eventually, almost all of the civilians had been evacuated and only a skeleton crew remained on the once populous orbiting city. The next round of transports would be more than enough to finish the evacuation. A Corvette soon descended from the landing bay into the large hanger. A large ramp deployed from the bottom-middle section of the frigate class warship. Seconds later, people poured forward towards the nose of the craft before starting up the ramp.

Suddenly the entire station shook violently and a new set of alarms started blazing throughout the hanger. Blue lights mixed with the ongoing red lights from the evacuation alarm.

"Atmospheric breech…" Storm muttered before putting his feet on the nearest wall and launching himself towards the communication panel at the end of the hanger. By now panic had ensued over the people in the bay, fighting and rushing towards the lone Corvette.

"Kyler! What just happened!?" Storm yelled out as he patched himself through to the command center.

"Explosive decompression in section Oscar-twelve," Kyler answered as he pulled up details on the affected area. "Oh no… That is the guard station outside the prison block!"

"What about the prisoners!?" Storm asked, fearing the answer.

"The blast disabled the cameras in the immediate area, we are pulling up the surrounding sections now," Kyler replied, visibly worried as much as Storm was. A few seconds later, he let out a sharp curse.

"Prisoner escape! Sections Oscar ten and eleven are compromised! Get security down there immediately!" Kyler shouted over his shoulder before turning back to the screen. "Can you go help contain the prison break? The evacuation is almost finished."

"Alright, I am on my way. Try and reach the _Fairlock_ and have them send over some marines," Storm said before turning to the two armed security forces in the hangar bay. "You two, come with me!"

"Yes, sir!" Both men responded with their M395 DMR's firmly grasped before running as fast as their magnetic boots would allow them. One of them looked over the ACS officer and noted that he didn't have any weapon visible on him.

"Do you need a weapon, sir?" the guard inquired, intent on giving him his M6A sidearm.

"No, I'm fine," Storm replied before disengaging the magnets in his boots, launching himself in the air, and floating down the long corridor. After about ten minutes of traversing the massive, orbing city, the sound of gunfire made itself apparent as the trio neared the prison block. It didn't take long from there to reach the fighting. The station's remaining security forces were engaged in a firefight with the escaped Latorii prisoners.

"Sergeant, status report!" Storm asked the nearest guard.

"Massively out-numbered and barely managing to hold them at this choke point," the sergeant answered before poking his head around the portable barricade and unleashing several rounds from his DMR. "They got into the armory before an explosion went off. Killed a good number of them, but still too many left to deal with."

"My marines are on their way, we just have to hold till they get here," Storm replied, the sound of bullets pinging of metal barricade resounding in his ears.

"No offense sir, but I doubt we will be here by the time they get here. I needed more men, not an unarmed officer," the guard replied in a harsh tone.

"Who said I was unarmed," Storm said with a smirk as he reached round to his back with his left arm and pulled off black, metal rod that he had magnetically attached to his flight suit. Storm wrapped his hand around the middle of the rod, just under the groove.

Instantly, streams of solid blue energy shot out from both ends at a curved angle, each bending back towards Storm. The light shocked the few guards that were taking cover behind the same barricade. Bringing his right hand towards the middle of the bow-like weapon, a thin, blue wire of energy connected the two ends.

With a relaxed breath, Storm pulled back on the wire causing a slim rod of the same blue energy to form along the groove in the bow. Standing up, he let loose the bolt at the nearest Latorii before ducking back down behind the barricade. The arrow-like bolt of blue energy flew in a perfectly straight line, closing the distance to its target almost instantaneously before embedding itself in the chest of the anthropomorphic wolf.

"Sir… what the hell is that?" The sergeant asked, stuck between surprise and curiosity.

"Never seen a Latorii BowLance before I take it?" Storm replied as he readied yet another arrow, using his strength to pull back the taut energy string.

"I've heard of them, but never heard of a human being able to use one," the guard answered poking his head over the barricade the same time as Storm and unleashing several rounds.

"That is because humans can't," Storm continued as he let loose his third arrow and struck down his third target.

"Wait, Savarin…" the sergeant mused after catching a glance of Storm's last name on his flight suit, "You're that wolf that they actually put in charge of the defense fleet!"

"Yes, I am. Now if you want to get out of this alive, I suggest you focus on the enemy," Storm countered as he readied yet another arrow.

"Bloody hell, fighting alongside one of you beasts…" the guard nearly spat out, but knew that Storm was right. He turned his attention back to the fight at hand as he unleashed several more rounds from his M395.

Storm let out a sigh as he released the string, sending another arrow at the speed of light into the chest of a Latorii trying to get across the firing line to cover. Even when he is saving someone's life they find a way to hate him.

The firefight continued for nearly half an hour. The only reason the security forces has lasted this long was because there were not enough weapons in the armory for every Latorii that had escaped. However, whenever one of the prisoners was killed, another one would grab the rifle and continue fighting. Many of the guards had run out of ammo for their DMRs and had resorted to using their pistols. Their numbers were down to less than a dozen by now while there still seemed to be over a hundred Latorii remaining.

"We are going to die if we stay here," the sergeant growled out as he unloaded the last bullets from his DMR. After hearing the hammer clicking against nothing, he angrily threw the gun to the ground before drawing his pistol and unloading its magazine.

"No we're not, my marines are almost here," Storm replied, thoroughly annoyed at the sergeant who had spent as much time insulting him as he had fighting against the escaped prisoners.

Drawing another arrow, he stood up from behind the barricade and let the arrow fly straight into the now closing Latorii. He ducked down behind the barricade just as a bullet tore into his left shoulder. Storm let out a suppressed growl as he bit down in pain.

"And how would you know that?" The guard asked, smirking some at Storm's wound as he reloaded his M6A.

Storm angrily glared at the human's smugness as the energy from his BowLance retracted back inside of the black rod. His instincts roared inside him to strike out at the arrogant guard, but Storm managed to hold them back.

"I can sense them," Storm replied, tapping his forehead with his right hand.

Sure enough, roughly thirty seconds later several squads of marines clad in plated battle-armor rounded the corner. The professional soldiers advanced towards the pinned down security forces with extremely efficient tactics. Half of the squads providing covering fire from their battle rifles while others moved forward, before switching roles and repeating the process. It didn't take long for several squads to reach Storm's position.

"Glad to see you could join us, Colonel Bradly," Storm said as he held his hand over his wounded shoulder, maroon blood leaking between his fingers.

"Can't let you have all the fun, sir. I see you caught some party favors," the marine colonel joked back as he took cover between Storm and the security sergeant. "I assume you took a few of them down before they put you out of action."

"You know it," Storm said as Bradley peeked over the barricade and let loose several rounds from his M395. A few bullets ricocheted off his battle armor before he and his squad pushed forward against the dwindling number of Latorii. A medic started treating Storm's wound, which wasn't an easy task between his flight suit and the fur he had hidden behind an illusion. Eventually, the medic was able to stem the flow of maroon colored blood that had been flowing from the wound.

After another ten minutes, the last of the escaped Latorii prisoners had been subdued. A handful of them surrendered at the very end, but most of the original five hundred had been killed in their failed escape attempt. It appeared that the ordeal was over, but then every alarm imaginable broke out throughout the station. Alternating yellow and orange lights filled the hallway and rooms surrounding the marines and security forces, driving fear deep into their hearts. That alarm only had one meaning; loss of orbital stability.

"Give me your comms right now!" Storm demanded before turning to his marines. "Get everyone to the Dropships!"

Colonel Bradly nodded as the marines forcefully tugged at the few remaining Latorii prisoners. The security sergeant handed over his communication device before turning and sprinting for his life towards the hangar bay.

"Kyler! Do you read me?" Storm called through the device as he too turned towards the hangar area.

"Storm? Good to hear that you're alright," Kyler responded. "I don't know what happened, all of the sudden our controls all crashed. The next thing we knew the thrusters activated and started pushing us out of orbit. We're running the impact calculations now."

"Alright, let me know as soon as you have them," Storm replied as his magnetic boots carried him down the hallway. A minute passed before Kyler's voice came over the earpiece.

"Sweet mother of… The impact zone is the refugee evacuation zone!" Kyler shouted, causing Storm to wince some. "Someone is doing this intentionally!"

"It would appear a Latorii or two managed to find a way around us," Storm said in a low voice before his ear twitched, picking up on a sound. "Kyler, get out of here. That is an order."

Storm didn't give his human friend a chance to respond, as he shut off the communications device before making his way towards the disturbance. He had thought he had heard someone crying. The blazing alarms made it hard to pick out, but he could faintly make out the distinct sound of a woman calling for help.

It didn't take Storm long to find the source of the call of distress. There was a woman pinned underneath a metal beam, presumably shaken loose by the explosion earlier.

"I'm here! Don't worry!" Storm called out as he ran towards the woman. She had long brown hair that was currently a tangled mess and her face was stained with tears.

"Oh, thank the Lord," the woman said as Storm knelt next to her and examined the beam. Normally, even the weakest of people would be able to free themselves from such a predicament in the low gravity environment, but the beam had wedged itself into its current position, locking it in place. Storm winced as his shoulder flared up again as he reached around with his good arm and grabbed his Bow Lance from his back.

"Stay still, I'll have you out in a few seconds," Storm said calmly as he focused psychic energy into the black rod. Instantly, a short blade of blue energy shot out from one side. The woman looked at the strange device in awe as Storm used it to cut through the beam. A few second later, Storm had managed to cut the beam in two before returning his weapon to his back. He easily pushed it up off the woman and helped her up.

"Can you walk?" Storm asked hastily. While they station wasn't going to crash into the planet anytime soon, he would rather get off of the doomed station sooner than later.

"I don't think so," the woman answered as Storm noticed a rather large bruise on her leg.

Storm nodded as he picked her up in his arms and carried her towards the hanger. The low gravity environment made carrying her much easier as Storm ran towards where his ship was docked. The station was all but deserted by now as Storm didn't see a single soul as he made his way to the hanger bay. It thankfully didn't take him too long to make it to the correct bay. He hastily entered in his access code before making the final sprint to his docked Eagle.

After entering in one final code, the door that let him into his Eagle slid open. Storm set the woman he had rescued into one of the seats before taking the metal rod off of his back and snapping it in a compartment. Looking at the civilian, he saw that she was already buckling herself into the seat. Making his way up the ladder, Storm quickly popped his helmet on and started up the ship. Seconds later, the pad slid forward in the bay before ascending into the main docking area. The magnetic docking gear disabled, freeing the craft as Storm punched the engines, accelerating the craft forwards and vertical at the same time as he made a beeline for the letter box.

"Admiral Horner, do you read me?" Storm called out as the Eagle accelerated through open space.

"I hear you commander, glad you made it out. What is going on? Our tracking data show Falcon falling out of orbit," Horner replied in a calm and collected tone.

"It is, which is why I need you to blow it to smithereens," Storm ordered.

"Aye sir," Horner answered. "Helmsman, engine to full; sound general quarters!"

Storm watched as the _Fairlock_ started accelerating towards the slowly falling orbital city. He could still see greenery in its habitation rings as he turned the Eagle around and waited. It didn't take long before the enormous battlecruiser passed Storm's craft with its powerful railguns deployed and aimed at the even larger station. With the _Fletcher_ class vessel pulled alongside the city, the space station's enormous size became even more apparent as it dwarfed even the largest vessel in the ACS navy.

Soon, blue streaks of light signaled that the _Fairlock_ had opened fire. Even the point defense lasers had started firing on the doomed Orbis Starport. Large chunks of the station started falling off as the railguns tore it to pieces. Several minutes passed before the two habitation rings had been decimated and were floating as several pieces separate from the battered main body of the station. It didn't take long before even the long, central section had fallen to pieces from the barrage of fire from the battlecruiser.

Storm punched his own engines to life as me made for the vessel's various hangers. Entering the needed commands into his computer and signaling that he had a wounded civilian with him, Storm approached from the side of the warship that was not facing the station. He slipped the Eagle down the middle of vessel before passing through the shields of the hanger bay and setting the small fighter down. The Confederate commander let out a sigh as he leaned his head back, relieved to be back on his vessel.

Storm shut down the engines and unstrapped himself before taking off his helmet and making his way down the ladder to where his passenger was waiting. She was looking quite strangely at the helmet Storm had slung under his arms. Her eyes went a bit wide as she read the name on his uniform. However, she finally spoke as she unstrapped herself.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"A Fletcher-class battlecruiser, the ACS _Fairlock_ ," Storm answered as he took his BowLance from its compartment before offering her his free hand. "So what is your name?"

"Sarah… My name is Sarah," she replied as she took Storm's hand. As Storm helped her up, he noticed that she was rather short as well, not standing too much taller than himself as she leaned against him. "Thank you for saving me, Mr. Savarin."

"Just doing my job," Storm said as the two of them hobbled their way down the ramp of the Eagle. There were several medical staff waiting for them at the bottom. Storm carefully set Sarah down in a wheelchair.

Storm let out a sigh as leaned back against one of the hydraulic poles that extended from the ramp, and watched the medics start ferrying Sarah off towards the infirmary. Today had been far too hectic for him. With any luck, nothing else would go wrong during the evacuation. He knew that was wishful thinking with a war going on, but he could hope. Gathering himself together, Storm set off for his quarters, intent on washing the blood out of fur and hopefully being able to relax some.


	3. Calm Before the Storm

Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 21, 3340, High Orbit above Raytheon Three-

Falcon Station is now little more than a massive debris field in orbit above the once populous planet. Some of the larger pieces of the once mighty space station are being cut down to size as to not endanger the evacuation on the planet's surface. I should add that such a massive debris field will play out to our advantage after we jump out of the system. Not even the Latorii scanners will be capable of finding anything hidden in the orbiting wreckage. A perfect hiding spot for a V-3 Halycon nuclear mine.

The evacuation of Eagle Station is underway and the ACS transports should be arriving soon. Unfortunately our limited time table was cut even shorter by the Latorii prison break on Falcon. I am not longer sure if we will be able to finish the evacuation completely anymore. Anyone that is not onboard a transport and left behind will very likely end up dead. Something that will weigh heavily on my conscious if it comes to pass.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship _Fairlock_

* * *

Storm let out a heavy sigh as the door to his cabin hissed shut behind him. He instantly closed his eyes, a faint blue glow emitting from them as the same glow enveloped the zipper on the back of his flight suit. With his mind, Storm slid the zipper down his back before moving his hands and pushing the flight suit off of his shoulders. One of the few upsides of the mesh flight suit was that it made it easier for Storm to maintain his disguise as he only had to create the illusion around his head compared to his whole body.

As such, black fur was present on Storm's shoulders as she started peeling the mesh suit off. The black fur continued onto his back as Storm pulled his arms out of the long sleeves and the gloves that were attached to the flight suit. A grey coat of fur made itself apparent on his upper arms before giving way to white fur on his forearms and paw like hands. The fur around his left shoulder was covered in dried maroon blood. Storm winced some as the flight suit tugged at the fur surrounding his wound, but it was nothing he could not handle.

After finally getting the flight suit off, Storm made his way to his private wash room that was attached to his quarters. He was soon sitting back in a bath of hot water as he tried to relax for the first time in quite some time. While he was far from his limit and had been through worse, it was nice for him to have some time to himself. However, he knew it wasn't going to last. Hence why he was going to make the best of it.

Storm let out a sigh as he leaned his head back and let the water wash over and soak into his fur. There were three primary colors to his fur: black, grey, and white. The white fur covered his front, fore arms, paws, calves, feet, and lower half of his head. A light grey fur ran down his sides, thighs, upper arms ears, and the top half of his head. Finally, the black fur covered his back, shoulders, tips of his ears, his tail, and a small mark that was on his lower forehead.

After nearly a quarter of an hour had passed, he grabbed a rag and soaked it, he gritted his teeth as he started working the maroon blood out of the black fur on his shoulders. It wasn't excessively painful but it was enough to be a hindrance. The wound leaked out a small amount of fresh blood before Storm dried off his shoulder. He applied an anti-infection spray that stung like no tomorrow before properly wrapping it in bandages. With his task done, Storm exited the bath and drained the water out of it. He dried off the rest of his fur, which is no easy task, before dressing himself in a hybridized human, Latorii outfit.

The outfit consisted of mainly loose fitting clothing as to not stick and rub against his fur, one of his main reasons for hating the flight suit he wore whenever he flew his Eagle. It was especially annoying for his tail as it was pinned against his back the entire time. Thankfully some egghead scientists had made a device that attaches at the base of his tail and makes it so he cannot feel it. However, his tail always felt very weird whenever he took the small collar off of it and feeling returned to it.

The pants Storm wore greatly resembled black sweatpants though they didn't have an elastic band. Instead there was a grey strip of cloth that that ran around the waist, almost like a built in belt. Latorii males typically didn't wear clothing across their upper bodies unless they were going into battle, in which case they would wear a form of armor. Storm did own a set of Latorii battle armor that he would wear whenever leading combat on the surface of a planet. The closest thing that it could be compared to was a set of Roman armor from Earth's ancient history.

Storm had never been to Earth, but he hoped that someday he would earn that privilege. Parts of him doubted that he ever would as a great number of the human's that ran the ACS government still did not trust him nor his mother. The closest either of them had been was Alpha Centauri, which was where his mother was currently located.

Storm was brought out of his musing by a knock at his door. Looking over at the clock, Storm noticed it had been about an hour since he had entered his room. With a sigh, Storm stood up off of his bed that he had been lying on. As he walked towards the door, he put some of his mental energy into restoring the illusion around his body. He soon appeared as the short, black haired, uniformed ACS commander that all but a few knew him as.

Pressing a paw against the door controls, the piece of sleek metal slid to the side revealing Admiral Mark and the girl he had rescued from Falcon Station. Sarah if he recalled her name correctly. She looked much better than she did when he had found her. The doctors on the ship had clearly given her a check-up as she had a crutch supporting her injured leg. It was also clear that she had spent the past hour in the same manner he had. Much of the dirt and grime that had covered her skin when Storm last saw her had been cleaned off. Her hair as a light brown and came down just past her shoulders, going well with her brown eyes.

"Admiral Mark, Miss Sarah, what can I do for you?" Storm asked politely.

"I'm just here with a status report," Mark started. "The transports just jumped into the system and are currently in FTL transit from the star to here. They also managed to gather up one more ship, so the evacuation can go faster."

"That is good news," Storm said as he let out a relieved sigh before his sapphire eyes shifted over towards Sarah. Contrary to his first observation, she was actually just shorter than him.

"Sarah here just wanted to get a chance to give a proper thank you," Mark explained with small laugh.

"I see, why don't you come in my room, Sarah," Storm started stepping aside and waving an arm towards a small, low to the floor table that had several mats around it. Sarah nodded her head after a bit and hesitantly walking into the room to the table. "Thank you Mark, you have command for now. See to it the evacuation continues as smooth as possible."

"Yes sir," Mark said before saluting and walking off in the direction of the command bridge.

Storm closed the door before turning towards where Sarah was sitting. Her head was slowly turning as she took in the various items that were hanging on the walls. There was a picture of three humans, one of which was Storm, hanging on the wall opposite of the door. Next to his bed was a large picture of a Farragut class battlecruiser, the word _Oración_ painted in large, white letters along its hull. Above the bed as a flag that Sarah found rather strange. It was almost entirely yellow and had a fairly realistic looking snake coiled in a striking position with the words "don't tread on me" written below it. On the wall to her immediate left hung a small cross that held a small amount of sand in a glass circle at its base.

Storm walked over to the table before kneeling down and sitting on his heels. Upon noticing that Storm was across from her at the table, her eyes darted down at the floor. Storm let out a small laugh as she shook his head some.

"So, I assume you have at least heard of me," Storm started.

"Y-yes," Sarah started off nervously, finally looking up at Storm. "They… they say you are a Latorii."

"That is mostly true," Storm confirmed. "I do have a bit of human in me, but you wouldn't be able to tell by just glancing at me."

Sarah remained silent, her eyes fall back towards the floor causing Storm to let out a sigh. She had clearly read up on the hate based lies the media broadcasts across human colonized space.

"What all did Mark tell you about me?" Storm questioned, hoping she would see more than what she had heard.

"He said he trusted you… that most of the stuff the media puts out about you is straight up lies and misinformation…" Sarah said in a quiet voice, her face shifting up some. "But they say you brainwashed everyone under your command."

"Heh, I don't believe I have heard that one before," Storm laughed, shaking his head. "Information about Latorii in general is often not entirely correct. Let me ask you this, can all Latorii take control of someone else's mind?"

"That is what they say…" Sarah answered meekly.

"That is actually false, a common misconception. Only a few, very powerful Latorii that have the right genetics and have been trained from a very young age can take control of other's minds," Storm replied. "And I am not one of those Latorii."

"…" Sarah didn't reply immediately, but seemed like she was beginning to open up some. "I… I guess that you are telling the truth… All I have ever known about you is that you are some evil wolf that somehow ended up in command. But… you did save my life, something they said you were incapable of doing… saving a human. So, thank you for saving me, Commander Savarin."

"Eh, I have always hated formalities. You can call me Storm."

"Storm? Where does that come from?" Sarah asked, a curious look appearing on her face.

"Latorii are split into different clans and my mother was from the Storm Clan. Since most people tended to hate me the second I gave them my name, I started going by a nickname of Storm, after my clan," Storm answered solemnly.

"If you don't mind me asking… why did you save me?" Sarah asked in a soft voice.

"As I said last time, I was just doing my job," Storm started in a solemn voice, "That… and I figured if I save enough lives, that maybe people will see me for more than a Latorii. See me for the person that I am, not what I am."

Storm took a deep breath as be finished and looked up at the ceiling, a small frown present on his face. Both he and Sarah remained silent for several seconds, both deep in thought.

"I… I'm sorry for doubting you after you saved me," Sarah offered, her voice low but honest.

Storm lowered his head from the ceiling, looking at Sarah with a faint smile. "Thank you, Sarah. That means a lot to me."

"It would seem that Mark was right about you and everything I had been told was nothing but lies," Sarah continued.

"It's alright. I've spent my entire life having people hate me, and I learned not to let it get to me. Well, I try to at least," Storm replied. "Truthfully, I don't blame most people for not trusting me. All they know is that I am a Latorii. All they know about Latorii is that they are waging a genocidal war against humanity. It is when they continue to hate me even after they have met me in person that it gets to me."

"I don't know if I could handle having that many people against me," Sarah said quietly

"It wasn't easy, especially when I was young. All I wanted then was to fit in, but I'm sure you could imagine how well that worked," Storm started before pausing for a moment. "Thank you for taking the time to actually come down and meet me. That in of itself shows that you questioned the lies that you had been told. Otherwise you would have just stayed away from me like everyone else.

"It was nice actually getting to know you, Storm," Sarah said as she picked up the crutch that was lying next to her, using it to help herself to her feet.

"Likewise," Storm replied, nodding his head as he stood up. "Do you have a place to stay right now?"

"I was just going to go back to the infirmary. The cots there are better than the ones we had back on Falcon," Sarah answered as she hobbled towards the door.

"If you don't mind, I have a better idea," Storm said as he stepped in front of the human girl. "Follow me."

* * *

Sarah looked around in awe, her jaw dropping some at the room she had entered. It was three times as big as her apartment on Falcon. The walls were painted a golden colored and several pictures hung on the walls. The bed was the biggest she had ever seen and had more pillows than she could count on it. There were two open doors that she could see, one leading to a bathroom while the other appeared to be a closet.

"This is the VIP quarters," Storm started as he walked past Sarah into the room. "It's supposed to be used by governors, fleet admirals, and other higher ups. It is probably the least used room on this ship, so I figured you could use it."

"You're kidding right? This is some kind of joke," Sarah said in disbelief as she took a few more steps into the room.

"I am being serious," Storm replied with a small laugh. "You can stay here till we get to the Soliloquy system."

"I-I don't know what to say…" Sarah stated as she looked around the room.

"I do believe a simple 'thank you' would suffice," Storm answered jokingly. "Anyways, I should get going. I've taken long enough to get back to my duties as is. If you need any help, you can press this button here and a sailor will come by to assist you."

Sarah simply nodded her head in response, still somewhat shocked by the room she would be staying in. With that completed, Storm exited the room as the door hissed shut behind him. He quickly made his way to the command bridge.

"Commander on deck!" Admiral Mark shouted out as Storm walked onto the bridge, the entire command crew going to attention.

"At ease," Storm said as he sat in his chair, noting the screen he had cracked when talking to Governor Price had been replaced with a new screen. "What is the status of the transports?"

"They are descending into the atmosphere now, sir," Admiral Mark replied from next to a holo-radar. "They will arrive at the evacuation zone within the hour."

"And the evacuation of Eagle Station?" Storm questioned.

"The first cycle of ships just landed and are unloading their passengers. Once the transports are almost finished taking on civilians, we will hold in our craft in orbit and start shuttling them directly to the transports."

Storm nodded his head as he looked out of the reinforced, energy shielded glass towards the planet below. He could see several of the massive transports as they descended into the atmosphere of Raytheon Three. Perhaps they would indeed get out of this without any further combat. That was all he could hope and pray for. The _Fairlock_ could still fight, but she was hurting and mostly without support. While the Dropships could act in place of the lost Assault Ships, they were more built for planetary assaults, not dogfighting in space.

"Sir! Proximity alarms are going off at the star! No cascade signature present but hyper replays are reporting three frigate sized contacts, IFF negative," an officer shouted out.

"Mikael, status report," Storm said calmly.

"The lack of a cascade cloud signifies that no capital ships have entered the system. Hyper scans of the ships confirms that they are Imperial Cutters that jumped into the system with their own hyper drives. Recommend sounding general quarters in preparation for immediate combat," the AI responded.

"Admiral, do we have any Corvettes nearby?" Storm asked.

"One is just coming out of atmosphere while another was about to dock at Eagle Station. I am guessing you want them called into formation?" Admiral Horner replied.

"Make it so," Storm said, nodding his head. "And sound general quarters."

"Aye sir!"

Moments later, all the lights on the ship went out and were replaced by red combat lighting as alarms barked to life. The massive battlecruiser started to turn around in its orbital flight as engines activated. It only took a few minutes to get the ship's fully operational port side facing the star and the direction the Imperial ships were coming from. The two Corvettes were positioned above and behind of the battlecruiser with their weapons deployed and ready.

The Corvettes were much smaller than the _Fairlock_ but could still back quite a punch for their size. While only being a little over eight percent of the length of the larger battlecruisers, the frigates were still armed with three railguns, though they were smaller and two of them could only fire in mostly forward arcs. These two railguns were located at the back of Corvette above the bridge while the third was on the underside of the vessel towards the middle. Finally, each Corvette was armed with four pulse laser turrets, two along the side and two on top towards the bow.

Three Imperial Cutters blinked into existence less than twenty kilometers from the three Confederate warships. Large, blue lasers raced forward from under the bows of the Latorii crafts almost immediately. All three Latorii ships focused their fire onto a single Corvette. The lasers caused the ACS vessel shields to glow purple as it returned fire with its railguns. Both Corvettes let loose a volley of Mach fifteen slugs while the _Fairlock_ unleashed a broadside of her own larger, faster slugs. The Cutters mostly ignored the return fire from the Corvettes as their shielding technology was far superior to anything humanity could muster.

The six smaller rounds practically bounced off the Cutter's shield as it gave off a blue glow. The _Fairlock_ however had fired her broadside in a rapid ripple, each turret firing a quarter of a second after the last. The first six shells did nothing but ricochet off the Latorii ship's shields. The seventh and eighth managed to break through the shield and slammed against the vessel's armor but lost too much energy breaking the shields to pierce it. The last four rounds tore through the exposed armor, wrecking everything in their path before exiting the other side of the Cutter. The Latorii vessel's engines sputtered as the ship drifted out of formation before exploding in a blue fireball.

The two remaining Cutters continued to focus their fire onto the Corvette. Its shields were rapidly approaching their breaking point even with all power diverted away from the engines. With the _Fairlock_ 's main batteries still on their reload and recharge cycle, the Corvettes could only hope to survive long enough for the battlecruiser to finish off the attacking Latorii vessels.

It wasn't to be though as the first Corvette's shields gave way, exposing its bare yet thick armor to the Latorii frigates. By now, two smaller, yet still quite large lasers on the rear dorsal sections of the Cutters were firing away at the designated Corvette. The high frequency energy weapons burning through its armor till one of the bursts of laser cut through the ship's reactor. The Corvette exploded in a giant fireball, showering its sister ship in debris and rapidly draining its shields. The two remaining Latorii frigates instantly switched their fire over to the last Corvette and broke its shields within seconds.

Having finally completed its reload and recharge cycle as it once again ripple fired off its massive electromagnetic weapons. As the Cutter's shields had partially been drained from several consecutive hits from the Corvettes, it only took four slugs to break its shields. The other eight rounds blasted through the white armor plating of the Cutter as if it didn't exist. With its structural integrity all but gone, the Latorii vessel broke apart before the section containing its reactor exploded.

The lone remaining Cutter was now firing with all seven of its lasers as the last four and smallest weapons on the frigate opened fire. The blue light based weapons burned through the thick armor of the Confederate warship. Far from being out of the fight, the Corvette opened fire with its four lasers. Even the _Fairlock_ had opened fire with its impressive yet short ranged laser battery. The orange lasers were nowhere near as effective as their opposing Latorii counterparts, but they were good enough to work down a lone Cutter.

The combined laser fire broke down the Latorii shields just before the Corvette fired off its three railguns. Each shell was aimed precisely at the bridge of the alien warship. The slugs broke through the reinforced, yet unshielded glass and killed all of the Latorii officers. The rounds managed to break everything in their path before bouncing off the armor on the other side of the ship causing the rounds to ricochet around the inside of the vessel to devastating effect.

With its internals gutted and shattered, the Cutter's laser fire abruptly stopped as its engines went dark. A lone escape pod jettisoned from the disabled vessel as it drifted through space. Storms eyes tracked the pod as it arced through space and descended towards the planet below.

"Combat complete," Mikael stated in his neutral, robotic voice. "Warning, damage to the _Crusader_ is critical, recommend abandoning ship and scuttling."

Storm looked over at the wounded Corvette. It was venting atmosphere and its thick titanium armor was still red hot in some areas. While conserving and saving as many warships was a priority, the _Crusader_ was clearly beyond salvaging.

"I concur, give them the order to abandon ship and active their scuttling charges," Storm ordered. "Reroute a Dropship and have it pick up survivors."

"What do you want to do about the Latorii escape pod?" Admiral Horner asked.

"I would really like to talk to its occupant…" Storm said, putting a hand to his chin, "This attack was highly unorthodox by Latorii standards. Three lone Cutters blitzing against a battlecruiser that had Corvettes in support. Granted if it was just the Corvettes I could understand, but it would take at least six Cutters to take on a lone Fletcher-class."

"I agree, something is definitely amiss," Mark stated as he looked at the holo-radar as it tracked the lone pod and its predicted landing point.

"Admiral Horner, you have the con," Storm ordered as he got out of his chair and started towards his quarters. "Transfer the data on that pod to my Eagle."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

Storm's Eagle descended through the atmosphere of Raytheon Three towards the area the Latorii escape pod had impacted. The reentry period took a while as air resistance violently shook the agile space fighter. After finally reaching the proper altitude, the Eagle's engines started up once again as Storm rocketed through the air. It didn't take him long to find the small crater created by the escape pod in the middle of a small patch of trees. Looking around, Storm found a clearing just big enough for him to set down in and flew towards it.

Storm set the Eagle down gentle in the long grass before he shut down the engines. They whined as they came to a halt. The seat slid back and turned slightly as Storm unstrapped himself. This time he was not wearing a flight suit or his helmet, nor was he actually behind any disguise once he had exited the _Fairlock_. He was however armed with his BowLance and was wearing his Latorii armor. He looked as Latorii as possible, and that was his intention. Much easier to get information from a lone Latorii if he or she thought Storm was on the same side.

The smells of the forest were the first thing that Storm noticed as he exited his ship. There wasn't anything that could compare when he was up in space. There were some machines that had been made that were capable of fooling a human nose, but not a Latorii nose. This was the real thing. Storm closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath of the air. Upon opening his eyes again, Storm set out towards where the escape pod had crashed. He moved at a brisk pace, but was not quite running. Looking down at the underside of his left arm, Storm eyed the digital map from the device that was strapped to his arm. A blinking red dot showed the position of his destination.

It didn't take him long to reach the landing site. The grass around the crater had been burnt away by the heat that had radiated off the metal from reentry. Storm slowed to a walk as he cautiously approached the escape pod. He could see that the door had been ejected and was lying a bit away from the where the space lifeboat had landed. Looking inside, Storm saw that it was indeed empty as was the compartment that carried a BowLance. A larger compartment was also empty and there was no telling what had been inside of it. Turning away, Storm started sniffing around before catching the scent of the pods lone occupant.

Storm hastily started off in the direction his nose led him. According to his map, the woods started to die off the further west he headed. A breeze was blowing from the north, which meant that the Latorii from the pod wouldn't be able to smell Storm coming. He slowed down as the scent got stronger and stronger. Stormed grabbed his BowLance off of his armor and held it in his left paw. His shoulder still was in quite a bit of pain and was stiff, but Storm pressed on. It wasn't long before the trees gave way and a vast rolling plains.

Storm's eyes quickly found his target and narrowed. Something wasn't right. The Latorii had set up some kind of device with a large antenna rising towards the sky. What worried Storm was that it resembled a hyper relay, but it was impossible to make one as small enough to be man portable. Then again, that was by human standards, and what his mother knew about Latorii scientific progress was around forty years old.

Storm hid behind a tree as he wondered what he should do next. From his position, it was only a few hundred yards to where the Latorii and the strange device were. It was an easy shot for him if we wanted to take out one or both of them. However, doing so would almost certainly mean that he would learn nothing. Closing his eyes, Storm took a breath and concentrated before stepping out from behind the tree and starting towards the Latorii.

"Tal chi!" Storm called out, the Latorii greeting cutting through the silence of the air. The wolf-like alien spun around in surprise, his paws quickly grabbing his own BowLance. Upon seeing Storm he seemed to relax some, the metal plates of his armor clinking against each other as he stood back up to his full height.

"Tal chi!" He called back, but still continued to eye Storm with caution. _"Who are you and what are you doing here?"_

" _I'm part of the heavy scout fleet that arrived one planetary rotation ago,"_ Storm lied confidently, _"My hyper drive was damaged and I could only manage basic FTL flight to this planet."_

" _I see,"_ the Latorii nodded, clipping his BowLance back onto his armor. He seemed to have bought Storm's story, but neither of them was ready to lower their guard. _"Well then, you can witness the first combat use of our newest weapon."_

" _This… thing,"_ Storm started, gesturing a paw towards the device a few yards away from him, _"Is a weapon?"_

" _Not exactly, nor is the weapon I speak of really a weapon, more of a new transit system. A cascade planet bridge. It will allow us to transport our troops directly from our planets to the surface of these vile human worlds."_

The Latorii had only just finished speaking when Storm activated his BowLance and a long energy spear elongated from one of the open ends. In a fluid motion, Storm thrust the energy lance through the device causing it to give off a series of sparks before all of the lights on it went out.

" _Heh… I thought you reeked of human stench,"_ the Latorii spat out. _"Not that it matters, you are too late."_

As if on cue, a large purple and black cloud burst into existence several hundred yards away. It was indeed a cascade cloud. Storm watched in horror was well organized columns of Latorii infantry marched through the portal. There were at least six columns that were five across and twenty deep coming out in a straight line with many identical rows behind them.

The Latorii that was next to Storm moved quickly as he grabbed his BowLance, activated it, and stuck at Strom in one motion. The ACS commander easily jumped back out of reach before turning tail and running back towards his ship. He opened a channel up to Admiral Horner using the device on his left forearm.

"Mark! He have a problem!" Storm said frantically.

"Sir, what the heck is going on down there?! Mikael is saying he has picked up a cascade event on the planet's surface," Admiral Horner replied in a professional manner in contrast to his superior's panicked tone.

"He is right! They used some kind of man portable hyper relay to open a portal straight to the surface. Latorii infantry were already pouring through it by the time I destroyed it," Storm answered as he closed in on his ship. "Recall all of the Dropships and start deploying marines to the evacuation zone. Get the _Fairlock_ into planetary bombardment position and be ready to support us with orbital fire."

"Aye, sir! Right away, sir!" Mark said before he started barking orders to the bridge crew of the battlecruiser.

"God help us…" Storm muttered once he had made it to his Eagle.

* * *

Well, here is the third chapter. I am thankful to the few of you that have favorited and followed this little story of mine. If you have any questions, I would happy answer them. I a also up for suggestions as to what you want to see in this story. My plans are very loose and there is a lot I could add in if it is a good enough fit. Once again, thank you for reading! I hope that you enjoyed it!


	4. The Bureau of Galactic Reconnaissance

Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 21, 3340, High Orbit above Raytheon Three-

I don't know how things could currently get any worse, but as the saying goes, things can always get worse. Sadly the _Fairlock_ was on the other side of the planet when the portal opened. The Fletcher-class battlecruiser has the best planetary assault weapons in the ACS arsenal. They don't get used much as humanity has been on the defensive since the onset of the war. However, they are rather effective for defense as well. The _Fairlock_ 's railguns have rather devastating results when used against planets. All of the firepower of a tactical nuclear bomb with none of the radiation. Granted, the target area is completely pulverized and broken up from the force of the impact. A Naval Orbital Velocity Attack Drop, or a NOVA Drop.

Unfortunately, the Latorii are very good at concealing themselves once they are on a planet's surface. Not even advanced AI's such as Mikael can track them through their optical illusions. I can only guess that their target is the evacuation center. They aren't going to be taking the straight route there luckily for us. They tried that on the planet of Commonwealth when they had broken through the ACS orbital defenses. A NOVA Drop put a stop to their attack when their path of advance was guessed to devastating effect.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship _Fairlock_

* * *

Storm hastily powered down his Eagle as soon as he landed in the hangar bay of the _Fairlock_. Quickly putting up an illusion around himself, he rushed down the ladder and in the docking bay. All ten of the Dropships were lined up as B1 Centauro 120's rolled underneath them onto loading platforms before they retracted into the belly of the armored craft. The platform dropped back down moments later as a Freccia IFV rolled onto before also disappearing into the Dropship as well. Marines were standing in rank and file behind each as they prepared to embark. Every marine was clad in black battle armor, a grey wolf painted on both of their shoulders. Most were armed with battle rifles although a few carried machine guns and even fewer carried sniper rifles.

"Colonel Bradley, how long till you are ready to be planet side?" Storm asked as he approached the marine commander.

"Almost loaded up now, sir," Bradley answered, his black helmet under his arm with his rifle slung over his shoulder. "Will you be joining us sir?"

"You know it," Storm replied with a toothy grin as his image flicked some, going from his officer's uniform to armor similar to the rest of the marines. His Latorii armor still on underneath the optical trick. "Just need to grab something from my room."

"I'll wait for you then, sir. Don't take too long though, don't want to keep the rest of the boys waiting. They are eager to send them Latorii home with their tails between their legs," Bradley jested.

Storm simply shook his head as he dashed off to his room. It didn't take him long to get there and enter into his private domain. Briskly walking over to the large cabinet next to his bed, Storm pulled open its doors. He smiled some as he pulled out the Mk14 EBR from its clamps. Setting the specially modified battle rifle down on his bed, he pulled out a tac-vest as well before slinging it on and jamming its pockets full of magazines. While they were currently empty, Storm knew he would have time to put ammunition in them on the flight down to the surface of Raytheon. Grabbing his Mk14, Storm headed back to the hangar bay.

Upon arriving, only one Dropship was still in the _Fairlock_ 's hangar. Colonel Bradley was standing on the entrance ramp at the rear of the craft. Storm hurried onto up the ramp as Bradley slapped him on his wounded shoulder, causing Storm to cringe some from.

"Don't tell me you are going soft, sir," Bradley joked as the ramp closed, sealing off the troop bay.

Storm glared at the marine Colonel in return as the two high ranking officers sat down in the troop bay of the Dropship and strapped themselves in. Upon finding a crate of ammunition, Storm started loading the magazines to his Mk14. Popping twenty 7.62x51mm rounds into each before placing them back in his vest. His illusion lined up perfectly to make it appear as if they were going into the slots on his imaginary armor.

"You still use that relic of a gun?" Bradley asked, elbowing Storm.

"You know, the basis of most of our technology for ground warfare was designed over a millennia ago," Storm shot back as the Dropship lifted off of the deck of the battlecruiser. He continued to load the magazines of the battle rifle with the black tipped armor piercing ammo.

"True, but most of it wasn't built a millennia ago," Bradley countered before patting his M395. "That and some of it is brand new."

"Those M395s are a bit bulky for me. Us Latorii are rather short. Besides, my modifications wouldn't fit on them," Storm said with a smirk, running his paw over the black metal that covered the grip and ran along the bottom of the rifle where it ended in a small vertically aligned rectangle under the barrel. By now, everything that wasn't strapped down was floating as the Dropship exited the _Fairlock_ 's artificial gravity field, making it a little harder for Storm to load the rounds into this magazines. "Still, I bet the designers of the Centauro wouldn't have dreamed that their vehicles would be in service over a thousand years after they were designed. Who would have thought that they could easily be converted into mobile space combat vehicles?"

"Well, if you call adding a small shield generator to the gun breech to prevent the atmosphere from leaving the tank when they reload the gun, making the vehicle air tight, and adding thruster engines all around it 'easy,' you might want to look up the definition in the dictionary," Bradley shot back.

Several of the marines around the two officers couldn't help but laugh some at their superiors' banter. It was something that they had long gotten used to between the two of them. They always secretly hoped that Bradley would come out on top as he was a fellow marine. They all had great respect for both men, even Commander Storm. They had long gotten over what he was as he had saved most of their lives more than once in battle.

"We are about to enter atmosphere," the voice of the pilot rang over the intercom. True enough, it wasn't long before the Dropship start to shake as it tore through the air. Plasma glowed on the underside of the craft as the superheated air burned against the thick, metal frame. After a while the craft performed a hypersonic S-turn to kill off much of the speed that it had built up during reentry as it glided towards the evacuation zone. It wasn't long before the whine of the Dropship's engines restarting made it to the marines' ears.

From there on out, the flight to the evacuation zone was rather smooth as the Dropship flew through the skies of Raytheon III. Eventually the ship's nose tilted up as the engines grew louder. The Dropship entered a hover for a brief moment before slowly dropping down and landing. Instantly the ramp at the rear of the craft began to lower. The marines all stood up and turned towards the exit in unison. Storm and Bradley did the same before leading the men off of the ship and onto the planet. The sound of diesel engines filled the air as Centauros and Freccias rolled about the evacuation grounds. In the distance, the massive evacuation ships were present as civilians poured onto them.

Storm's eyes darted to a uniformed man quickly approaching him with a small group of militia. Bradley and the rest of the marines were forming up behind him. All one thousand men and twenty vehicles of the _Fairlock_ 's ground complement. The unit proudly called itself the Wolfpack, hence the small grey wolves that were painted on most of their equipment.

"Commander Savarin, my name is Captain Carnot **(silent t)** ," the officer said in what Storm could only gather was a slight French accent. "I am in charge of the garrison here."

"Glad to make your acquaintance," Storm relied in a curt voice, holding out his gloved hand. Carnot reluctantly shook it after a slight delay, clearly forcing himself to complete the simple gesture. Storm internally sighed; the man had made his intentions toward him quite apparent.

"So can you tell me what exactly is going on here?" Carnot asked in a displeasing tone.

"A Latorii legion is on its way here," Storm answered as he started walking towards the perimeter fence.

"How is that possible? I have been monitoring the hyper relays, no ships have come near the planet since your fleet destroyed those Imperial Cutters," Carnot countered, not quite believing what he had been told.

"One Latorii managed to make it to the planet's surface in an escape pod. He had some sort of experimental hyper relay. A man-portable one accurate enough for them to lock on to for a cascade bridge of some kind. Nothing like anything I have seen before," Storm replied in great detail, rubbing the back of his head some as his gloved paws dragged through the black fur under his illusion.

"That isn't possible," Carnot scoffed. "Hyper relays cannot be made man portable nor can they relay a planet's coordinates that accurately."

"Correction, humans cannot make such hyper relays," Storm said in a stern voice. "Now if you will pardon me, I have a job to do."

"Fils de pute," Carnot cursed angrily before turning around and leaving the ACS commander to his business. Bradley laughed some as he walked up behind Storm and stopped next to him.

"I see he likes you a lot," Bradley said sarcastically, slapping Storm on the back with his free hand has he held his helmet under his other arm. His M395 was current slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah, no kidding. His words were less than pleasant," Storm replied his voice slightly lower than normal. While he hadn't understood what the militia captain had said, he could take a good guess at it.

"Ah, you're ten times the man he will ever be," Bradley continued before looking up at the blue sky. "So what is the plan boss? The Wolfpack is ready to go on your orders."

"Early detection is going to be the key to holding this starport till the evacuation is complete," Storm started, smiling some. "If we can find them early, the _Fairlock_ can hammer them with NOVA Drops. Once they close to the point where a NOVA would blow us up with them is when things will get tricky."

Storm held up his arm and typed in a few commands into the device on his arm, which was hidden below his illusion. To Bradley it appeared as if Storm was just poking at his armor, but the marine colonel had been around Storm long enough to know what he was doing. Moments later a holographic map exploded into existence out of Storm's wrist.

"This is about where the portal opened up," Storm said as he pointed to an area on the map southeast of the starport.

"About a fifty klicks from here," Bradley observed as he took in the map. "Did you see any cavalry in the legion?"

"I got out of there rather quickly, but I don't see why they wouldn't," Storm replied.

"So we got less than two hours at the most till their advanced units are here. Those Latorii drakes can cover a lot of ground very fast without getting tired," Bradley said with a sigh. "Dang things are practically bullet proof too."

"Just be glad they cannot fly or breathe fire like the dragons from the legends written on Earth long, long ago," Storm countered with a smirk. "It would probably be best to set up patrols with the Freccias along here." Storm said as he pulled his free paw in a semi-circle around perimeter of the starport. "Eight marines to an IFV with five minute check intervals. Failure to check in will be treated as a breach in the perimeter. From that point, we will clear the area for a NOVA Drop."

"Sounds good to me, commander. I will get the teams sent out," Bradley stated as he started towards where the marines were assembled.

Storm nodded in response as he typed in a few commands and the holo-map disappeared. Storm punched in a few more commands afterwards.

"Admiral Horner, can you read me?" Storm said.

"Aye sir, loud and clear," Mark answered from the bridge of the battlecruiser.

"Are you in position?" Storm asked as he looked up towards where he could only imagine the warship was located.

"Entering into geosynchronous orbit above you now, sir. Any support you need, you will get," Horner replied.

"Good, I'm betting we are going to need your help. We are outnumbered three to one down here if they managed to get an entire legion through that portal," Storm continued. "That will be all, Mark. Godspeed, admiral."

"To you as well, sir."

* * *

Storm and Colonel Bradley were waiting inside a small building they had commandeered as a command and control center. There were not many of them inside the building, but there were quite a few radios. A large, holographic map of the starport and its surroundings was displayed above a table, the medium sized projector resting on the wood. The locations of the patrols were marked on it as well as suspected lines of advance of the Latorii.

"Well, it's been two hours," Bradley observed as he glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall. His rifle leaning against the chair he was sitting in.

"So it has…" Storm mused as he stared down at the map. "Well, today has been a day of surprises. You don't suppose they have changed tactics?"

"How should I know? You're the wolf here, not me," Bradley shot back jokingly.

"Commander Storm, we are picking up a faint distress signal," one of the radio operators reported.

"From one of the recon units?" Storm asked as both he and Bradley stood up from their chairs, rifles in hand.

"Negative, sir," the officer replied, shaking his head. "The signal is weak and while most of its confirmation codes check out, they are heavily redacted."

"BGR…" Storm and Bradley said in unison under the breath.

"I wasn't aware there was a BGR station on Raytheon," Bradley continued.

"That's because they don't officially have stations anywhere," Storm huffed. "What the hell are they still doing here? They should have bugged out as soon as the first Latorii scout ships arrive."

"Where is the signal coming from?" Bradley questioned as he went back over to the map.

"Grid nine, section Charlie two."

"That is fifteen klicks north of here," Bradley relayed as he found the correct location, marking it with a command on a keyboard. "Sure enough, nothing on the map there but a whole lot of trees. Don't think there would be enough room for a Dropship insertion."

"Alright, recall the patrols have half of them take up positions between the starport and that blacksite. Bradley and I will lead the others to the location and figure out what is going on there," Storm ordered as the radio operators relayed the orders.

"Yes sir!"

"You will finally be getting that action you wanted, colonel," Storm said with a smirk as he shouldered his Mk14 EBR.

"So it seems," Bradley replied as he pulled the charging handle of his M395 back halfway and made sure a round was chambered.

Storm walked out of the building with Bradley in tow, and walked up to a nearby Centauro. He banged his paw against its side, sending reverberations through the vehicle. Moments later a head popped out of the commander's hatch.

"What can I do for you, commander?" The tanker asked upon seeing Storm and Bradley.

"Get ready to mobilize. I want you and two of your best tanks ready move in five minutes," Storm answered.

"Where we off to?"

"A BGR blacksite in Grid nine, section Charlie two," Bradley said with a smirk. "Apparently the spooks didn't get the memo to get out of dodge."

"Sounds like fun colonel," the tank commander shot back with his own toothy grin. "Don't you worry commander, we will be ready to go on your orders."

With that he ducked back into the eight wheeled vehicle. Moments later two other Centauros rolled up next to the small group. The Freccias rolled back on to the spaceport several minutes later. Half of them continued driving north while the others rolled up the forming rescue group.

Storm and Bradley mounted the nearest Freccia before the eight vehicles started off at max speed towards their target. Storm and Bradley were short on space as there were now ten people occupying a space built to hold eight. The two of them were standing up rather than sitting down, each holding onto a bar on the roof of the IFV.

The first part of the journey was fast as the wheeled vehicles were able to stick to the roads and travel at their max speed. It only took them six minutes travel the ten kilometers to the blacksite before turning off the road.

"Alright, we are going the rest of the way on foot," Storm ordered over the radio. The convoy came to a halt as the marines spilled out of their vehicles. Bradley put his helmet on as he looked around the heavily forested area. There was a path just wide enough for the vehicles to fit down. Storm and Bradley walked up the front of the group before kneeling down. Large claw marks were pressed into the dirt.

"Drake prints," Bradley said as he instinctively tightened some. His eyes scanning the trees for any movement.

"I would say we are in the right area then," Storm stated as he stood up, his own power eyes raking through the trees before turning back to the column of vehicles. "Alright, we are going in. I want a Centauro up front with an M-ten, twenty-eight canister round loaded."

"Aye sir!" Came a chorus of voices. All of the vehicles buttoned up as the marines spread out around them. Satisfied with the formation, Storm started forward with his Mk14 resting in his paws. While he would have preferred to use his BowLance, his injured shoulder made it much more uncomfortable to use compared to a rifle. With a slight mental push, a helmet appeared over Storm's head making him identical to all the other marines with him.

Progress was much slower than it had been when the vehicles could be of greater assistance. The slower progress was required though. Latorii ambushes were brutally efficient and left very few survivors. A quarter of an hour later, Storm called for the formation to halt. The group of marines stopped in their tracks, some of them raising their rifles as they scanned the trees around them.

Storm's ear twitched ever so slightly underneath his illusion. He could faintly hear something in front of them. There was a bend in the path about two hundred meters in front of them, cutting off his and everyone else's visions. It sounded like a rapid thunder. Storm and the other marines moved away from the front of the Centauro, not wanting to be blown to pieces by its muzzle blast should it need to fire. Storm dropped onto one knee, bringing up his Mk14 and looking down its Trijicon sight.

"Drakes!" Storm called out moments before a group of battle ready Latorii rode into view. Each of the Latorii was armed with an energy lance and riding as fast as their mounts would allow. They were in a rough wedge formation as they charged towards the human soldiers. There were easily thirty Latorii cavalry in the group.

The first to fire was the Centauro 120 as it let loose a M1028 canister shell. Over one thousand tungsten spheres shot out of its barrel towards the attack wolves. Ten of the wolves and their mounts tumbled to the ground, impaled by the high velocity projectiles. The other continued their charge unfazed by the recent deaths of their comrades. The marines opened fire with their rifles as the Centauro opened fire with its coaxial machine gun, adding even more 7.62mm fire to the mix. The rounds seemed to have little effect on the charging beasts and their riders. It took several shots or a well-aimed bullet to the head to bring down any Latorii soldier given their strong armor. Even then, the drakes would continue their lethal charge without their rider as their thick scales protected them from most small arms fire.

The Centauro fired again, but this time the remaining cavalry had spread out, greatly reducing its effect as only two of the Latorii fell to the tungsten spheres. Gunfire continued to sound out, but it was clear that the Latorii riders were going to make it to the convoy. Storm hit the magazine release on his rifle before slamming in another magazine and pulling back on the charging handle. Aiming down his sight, he exhaled as he centered his reticle on the head of one of the wolves. The Mk14 jolted against his uninjured shoulder before he watched his target roll of the charging drake.

He didn't get a chance to take aim at another Latorii as they closed that last bit of distance. Storm threw psychic energy into the grip of his battle rifle causing an energy bayonet to materialize under the barrel. With a roar, he jabbed it into the drake that jumped towards him before taking a step diagonally backwards. The dragon-like creature yelped out in pain as it slid off of Storm's bayonet. Without any hesitation, Storm aimed at the side of the large creature, where the scales were not as thick and let loose two quick shots.

Turning his attention back towards the attacking Latorii, Storm quickly jumped back, narrowly missing an energy lance. However, the lance found another target, impaling two marines in quick succession. A large explosion then threw Storm off of his feet, as another Latorii thrusted his lance into the lead Centauro, expertly hitting the ammunition and causing it to cook off inside the vehicle. With a groan, Storm forced himself back on to his feet. He brought his rifle back up to his shoulder before unloading several shots into the back of Latorii who had just cut down three marines in a matter of seconds.

Though he killed the rider, the drake instantly turned towards Storm, dropping a bleeding marine from its jaws. Keeping his rifle raised towards the dragon, yet still staying alert to his surroundings, Storm waited for the beast to charge him like it had done to the dead marine lying at its side. As soon as it opened its mouth to let out a frenzied roar, Storm took his shot, planting a round squaring in the drake's exposed innards. A pained howl escaped the beast before a marine shot it several times in its vulnerable sides, silencing it. There were another two, rapid explosions moments later, signaling that more of the vehicles had been destroyed.

Eventually the sound of gunshots ceased after the skirmish came to an end. The only remaining sounds were that of the diesel engines from the two remaining vehicles, the fires burning from the six destroyed vehicles, and the groans of the wounded on both sides. Storm could feel sweat rolling down his fur as he and two other marines made their way back in front of the destroyed Centauro.

"All units, regroup at the front of the convoy," Storm ordered over the radio, a slight amount of strain in his voice. He looked around at the human wounded and internally sighed. Their wounds were far too serious to have any chance of surviving.

It didn't take long for the remaining marines to regroup. Of the forty marines that had set out, only five were left outside of Storm and Bradley. Two of the Centauros and four of the Freccias had been destroyed as well. The two remaining vehicles were currently stuck between the wreckages of the other. The Latorii destroying the armored 8x8's up front and at the rear first, trapping the other between them before working their way from the back to the front of the formation.

"If it wasn't for that first canister round…" Bradley mused, "We might very well have been overrun."

"So what now, commander?" One of the marines asked, sitting down next to the burnt out wreckage of the Centauro.

"We continue on," Storm replied. "Latorii cavalry doctrine states that they are to travel in groups of forty, and there were only about thirty of them here if what I sensed is correct."

"So where are the other ten?" A different marine asked as he reloaded in M395.

"My guess, they are still at the blacksite. These guys were likely sent here to eliminate us or at the very least slow us down so that they could finish whatever they were up to at that blacksite."

"Well, I would say they succeeded in delaying us…" Bradley growled out, pounding his closed fist against the charred metal of the Centauro. "We need to get moving, and fast."

"I agree, colonel, hang onto my rifle for a second," Storm said, holding his Mk14 out towards the marine officer.

Bradley nodded as he shouldered his own rifle and grabbed Storm's. The remaining marines knew what was coming and backed off in order to give Storm the space he needed. The human-aligned wolf took a few steps back from the destroyed Centauro before closing his eyes and holding out his right paw towards the wreckage. Storm's eyes started glowing underneath his eyelids along with his outstretched paw. In a flash, his eyes opened and the Centauro started glowing in blue light as well. Storm started to slowly lift his paw into the air, the human vehicle moving with it as it lifted off the ground. With a deep breath, the ACS commander brought his fist quickly to the right. The Centauro followed suit, smashing into trees and splintering them before coming to rest on its side.

Letting out all the air from his lungs, Storm fell down onto one knee as he caught his breath again. After a few seconds, he pushed himself back up onto his feet as the marines started coming back to where he was.

"Sir, remind me to never piss you off," Bradley joked as he tossed Storm his battle rifle.

"Colonel, you have known that for a long time," Storm replied with a smirk as he caught his gun.

"Yeah, well thanks for the reminder," Bradley continued, a similar smile concealed underneath his helmet.

"Alright, everyone mount up on the Freccia. We are getting to this blacksite ASAP," Storm ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The marines all shouted back before double timing it to the sole remaining IFV. Now that Storm had cleared the road, the surviving vehicles were free to advance, though their retreat was still blocked for the moment. With everyone onboard, the two wheeled vehicles started off as fast as they could towards their destination.

Thankfully it didn't take them long to finish the drive to the BGR blacksite nor did they run into any other Latorii. The IFVs rolled to a stop in front of the remains of the perimeter of the secretive military site. The only thing that remained were the burning parts of a destroyed guard tower and pieces of barbwire fence strung about the area.

Storm and the other marines disembarked as they took in the scene. Dead humans were all scattered throughout the small courtyard, but not a single Latorii body was visible. Looking forwards, there was a small hill that had a concrete building coming out of its side. The thick metal door completely blown off of its hinges.

"You think they even knew they were coming?" Bradley asked as he knelt down next to one of the dead humans.

"Based on the amount of casualties on our side and the lack of any on theirs, I would say not…" Storm replied in a grim voice. He turned his attention back to the entrance, in small, white letters over the top were three words: Bureau of Galactic Reconnaissance.

"This is definitely the right place though," Storm finished before turning back to the marines. "Alright, we are ditching the vehicles here. Grab your rifles and set charges, leave nothing for them to use."

The four crew members of the Centauro and three from the Freccia climbed out of their vehicles. They scrambled away from them before small explosions went off inside both vehicles, rendering them useless. With that task complete, the fourteen remaining ACS soldiers made their way into the BGR blacksite. Storm was on point, scanning ahead of the group as they slowly made their way deeper into the base. All of the primary lights were out with only the backups filling the hallways with an ominous red light. So far the only thing the group had encountered was more dead humans, though some of them were clearly not soldiers. Their red blood staining their white lab coats.

After several minutes, Storm stopped and held up his fist as he sensed something. The marines behind him instantly came to a halt, some of them raising their weapons up as they scanned the hallway. Signally to the door on their left, Storm and Bradley approached before splitting onto either side of the door.

"What is it?" Bradley asked in a barely audible voice.

"Weak mental signature. Either a wounded human, or a Latorii masking his presence," Storm replied, equally quiet. Bradley nodded in response as he got ready to enter the room. Storm held out three fingers before counting down to zero. When he closed his fist, the two of them burst into the room.

The lights were mostly off, the only light coming from the dim hallway and a few lights that were barely working. The two officers looked around the room, Storm following the faint mental signal he was picking up. It was clear they were in some armory of some kind as it was filled with weapons and explosives. They was red blood staining the floor leading further into the room. Storm took it was a hint that whoever was in this room was human and not a wolf. All of the other marines had entered in behind them, leaving the hallway empty as a few of them remained near the door and kept watch.

"Sir, you might want to see this," Bradley said, gesturing towards one of the shelfs. It was full of X-4 explosive charges though a sizeable chunk of it was missing along with two remote detonators. Storm nodded his head in acknowledgement before following the trail of blood on the floor. One of the lights flickered on for a second, allowing Storm to see two human legs on the floor, the trail ending there.

Lowering his rifle, Storm slowly rounded the corner and saw a human soldier clad in black BGR tactical gear lying against the wall, a pistol in one hand and one of the remote detonators in the other. Based on the dim alternating red, green light on the small device, the missing explosive had clearly been blown up already. Bending over, Storm placed a paw on the pistol and slowly started removing it from the man's grasp.

That was when his eyes flashed open with a loud gasp. The soldier tried to point the gun at Storm, but he managed to pull the pistol out of his hands before he could pull the trigger.

"Stay away from me!" The wounded soldier screamed out causing Storm to fall onto his knees and clamp his gloved paw over the man's mouth.

"Be quiet!" Storm hissed. "We are on your side!"

Bradley and several other marines rushed over, one of them turning on a flashlight and revealing their human faces to the man. His eyes darted over all of them quickly before his breath started slowing down. After Storm was satisfied, he removed his paw and scooted back some.

"Who… who are you guys?" The soldier asked in a wavering voice.

"Fifty-fourth marine regiment, we came here after getting a distress call," Bradley answered. "You mind telling us what the heck is going on here?"

"That… that is classified," the man gasped out his hands moving down to his left thigh, drawing attention to a large gash.

"Anyone have any medical supplies?" Storm called behind him before turning his head back towards the BGR operative in front of him. "Now you listen here, I just lost an entire platoon of men getting here. You will tell me what you were doing here or I will find out myself," Storm growled out.

The soldier remained silent as Storm stared into his eyes, internally debating with himself. A marine came up and started treating his leg as an awkward silence continued. After almost a minute, the BGR operative spoke up again.

"Hyper wave research," he started, cringing some from his treatment. "We were looking into a way to spike the Latorii hyper network. It would have acted like a sonar ping of sorts, returning the location of all their positions. Fleets, space stations, worlds, etcetera. We were close to finishing, hence why he didn't leave when the first scout ships arrive. The attack on this base caught us completely off guard. They slaughtered pretty much all of us before we could organize. A few of us managed to put together what they were after." The man coughed several times, some blood leaking from the corner of his mouth before he continued in a strained voice.

"They were leaving all the machinery intact, not killing the head researchers. Instead taking them to the primary control room. They were going to use it against us! To locate every human system in the galaxy, Earth included… So we blew up the primary power generators, cut the range of the hyper relay down to only one hundred lightyears."

"Your research staff, did any of them know the exact coordinates of Earth?" Bradley asked a bit frantically.

"No… no one with that knowledge leaves the core planets," the man answered, fading back out of consciousness. "But… every human system, fleet, base… everything within a hundred lightyears from here will be found."

"Is there any way to stop it?" Storm questioned, watching the man's head fall down.

"No…" he coughed, much harder than last time. "If there is a hyper relay on our network hit by the spike, it will return its exact location."

Storm let out a loud curse, none of the marines understanding it as he had said it in Latorii instead of English as be closed his eyes and thought for a second.

"What if the relays are turned off?" Storm asked in a hard tone.

"Then the spike would pass over them harmlessly," the BGR operative responded in a faint voice.

"How long do we have before they can send out the spike?" Bradley cut in.

"I don't know… Soon…" the man answered as he descending into another coughing fit before losing consciousness.

The marine that had been treating him placed a hand against his wrist for several seconds. "He is alive, but just barely."

"Can he be moved?" Storm inquired.

"Not with what we have here. He has lost far too much blood. I am surprised he lasted as long as he has."

"So what now, sir?" Bradley asked. "The way I see it, we could attempt to take back this base or we find a way to shut down every hyper relay within a hundred lightyear radius."

"We don't have the manpower to take this base back, but if we get a signal up to Admiral Horner we might stand a chance of shutting down the relays," Storm mused as he got back on his feet.

"Then I suggest we get moving," Bradley said as he stood back up.

"I agree," Storm replied as the turned towards the door. All of the marines followed suit as the small group made their way back out of the base. Storm kept eyeing to see if he had a signal back to the _Fairlock_ , but whatever this base was made out of was blocking his signal. After a bit, the marines poured back into the courtyard. Instantly Storm's radio picked up a signal.

"Admiral, I need to you do something and we are almost out of time! Send out a warning to every ACS planet or station within one hundred lightyears. Order them to shut off their hyper relays! The Latorii are going to send out a spike to trace it right to them!" Storm nearly shouted.

"Ay, umm, yes sir!" Admiral Horner replied, recovering from the initial shock before relaying the order to the bridge crew. "Alright sir, we are working on it now, but I don't think many will comply… shutting down a hyper relay takes a fleet admiral's clearance… anything less and it becomes more of a suggestion."

"I know, I know…" Storm growled out. "And they certainly won't like taking that order from me."

Storm paused for a second as he thought, trying to find a way to get around his current dilemma. "Can Mikael force it through? An AI will listen to another AI and there are several worlds that are heavily managed by an AI."

"Aye sir! Mikael, are you reading this?"

"Affirmative," Mikael's robotic voice responded. "I have already completed a high powered surface scan of Commander Storm's current location. Hyper wave readings are abnormally high and rising. Establishing hyper wave uplink to all ACS artificial intelligences in the affected area and sending orders now. Of the thirty human controlled systems within one hundred lightyears, eight are managed by an artificial intelligence. All eight are complying and shutting down their hyper relays now."

"And the other systems?" Storm asked, fearing the answer.

"Two have shut down their relays, but the other twenty are still linked into the ACS hyper wave relay system," Mikael responded. "I am currently trying to convince them to shut down as well. Warning, hyper wave readings have increased by a factor of twenty. I am tracing an abnormally strong signal that just transmitted. Warning, our hyper relay just returned our exact coordinates back down the signal."

"We're too late…" Strom sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back. "The Latorii just located twenty systems and now they have the means to transport their legions there instantly."

"Twenty billion people…." Bradley breathed out.

"Admiral… send a Dropship to our location. Once we are clear, I want this base obliterated via NOVA Drop," Storm ordered, a certain edge in his voice.

* * *

I have been picturing the ACS marine armor as something similar to the ODST armor from HALO. Seems logical since I have them using the M395 from HALO as well. Humanity's weapons are really kind of just a mixture of whatever I find since as of right now there isn't any information on such weapons in the Elite universe. As for why I am using the Centauro 120, I have several reasons. The first is that it is an 8x8, something that I feel would be very well suited in the rough space environments. Granted the version in this story is air tight, has a shielded breach to keep air in, and has small rocket engines around its body to help it in low gravity environments. The second is that it is kind of awesome looking. As for the Mk14 EBR, once again I feel that it is a rather nice looking rifle that fires a powerful round (something needed for defeating Latorii armor).

The Latorii drakes are pretty much wingless Night Furies if you want something to picture as you read. I guess they are also kind of like that black predator animal from Avatar, but I personally like the Night Fury comparison more. If you have any other questions about anything, I will be more than happy to answer them.

Thank you all for reading! I hope that you enjoyed it! Any and all feedback will be appreciated!


	5. Holding the Line

Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 21, 3340, Raytheon System-

Words cannot describe the emotions I am currently feeling. The burning hatred, the sense of failure, the knowledge that twenty billion civilians are now doomed to die. They are all battling for dominance in my head at the moment. The one thing that brings some comfort to me is that those that have just doomed twenty colonies will soon be dead. Pulverized by the shockwave of a tungsten rod slamming into the planet at several times the speed of sound.

Even then, such revenge will be hollow. It will not undo their actions. It will not save those on the exposed planets. The only thing it will accomplish is ending about a dozen Latorii lives in petty revenge. However, it would have to suffice for now. There is still a battle to wage and a starport to defend.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship _Fairlock_

* * *

The flight back to the starport was a quiet, somber one for the survivors of the recon party. The only sounds being the whine of the engines as the marines leaned their heads back with their eyes closed. At one point there was an ear shattering explosion followed by a shockwave the _Fairlock_ 's NOVA Drop connect with the blacksite. The flight itself was rather short as the BGR base had been located fairly close to the evacuation starport, something that was in no way a coincidence. Upon landing and exiting from the Dropship, Storm looked towards the direction from which they had just come. The clouds had a circular hole in them with a thin white line tracing vertically at its center.

The marines disembarked behind him before heading towards the makeshift ammunition depot that had been set up. Storm was sure that they would probably find whatever food they could or a place to rest after filling up their empty magazines. Given that there currently were not any contacts, he would allow it after what they had been through so far.

"We did everything we could have," Colonel Bradley said as he stopped right next to his superior officer.

"What are you talking about?" Storm asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the marine.

"I may not be a psychic like you are, but I can still read you pretty well after all these years," Bradley started. "I can tell you're beating yourself up over allowing that hyper wave pulse to go off."

Storm frowned slightly as he looked towards the sky.

"Well… there was one thing we could have done…" Storm answered quietly as the closed his eyes. The wind blowing against his fur under his illusion.

"Sir, with all due respect, none of us are any good to humanity if we are dead," Bradley countered.

"But were the few of us really worth the twenty billion that are now at risk?" Storm said, his voice rising some as he clenched his paws. "I could have ordered Admiral Horner to do the NOVA Drop as soon as we learned of their plan. It would have destroyed the base before the pulse…"

"And us along with it," Bradley finished in a firm voice after Storm drifted off. After that, there was a few seconds of silence between to two men.

"Commander," Bradley said, breaking the silence, "Whether or not it was the right decision, it was yours and it is done. It is in the past, we need you here and now in the present so that humanity can have a future. I stand by the belief that you are the best officer in the entire ACS military and if anyone can turn this war around, it is you. We need our leader here, and we need him focused."

Storm had turned and looked at his top ranking marine as he lectured him, a slight smile had worked its way onto his face. He shook his head with a small laugh before looking back up at the blue sky.

"I still think you have way too much confidence in me," Storm replied, his morale better than it had been. "I am just one person."

"Many events throughout history were brought about by just one person," Bradley countered before placing a hand on Storm's shoulder. "You back? We need our commander."

"I'm back," Storm replied before closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath of air. "Thank you."

"This war gets to us all, sir. It ways on me heavily with every man under my command that I lose. I can only imagine the pressure you feel as you are in command of an entire battlecruiser along with my marines. The best we can do is make it to the next day."

"I suppose that you are correct. Now, let's make sure these people can see tomorrow," Storm said as he nodded his head towards the massive transports in the distance.

"That sounds like a good plan," Bradley stated. "It's good to have you back with us. Now, how about we go find someplace private to discuss what you found out."

"What I found out?" Storm asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sir, you fully understand what I am talking about. As I said, I know you all too well at this point," Bradley countered, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Are you sure you are not secretly a Latorii?" Storm shot back with a smirk.

"Last time I checked, I did not have a tail, claws, or furry ears," Bradley replied with a short laugh.

"Very well, let's get some ammo and some food, then I will fill you in," Storm said, ending in a serious tone.

The two soldiers quickly found a nearby restaurant in the starport. It wasn't much, but it beat the field rations. Quickly ordering some food to-go, they made their way to a nearby building that was currently unoccupied. After quick search for any recording or listening devices, the two sat down at a table with their food.

"So, what did you find out?" Bradley asked as he set his rifle on the table and cracked open is container, revealing a two pieces of pan fried fish with some lemon slices on the side.

"Not much… Picking through a BGR operative's brain is no easy task, even when they are wounded," Storm replied as he did the same, revealing the same meal. Storm was firmly in the camp that snails were not for eating.

"I can only imagine…" Bradley responded before taking a bite of the fish.

"And given that warning we sent out, I can guarantee you that we will be getting a visit from another BGR operative as soon as we are out of the system," Storm said in disgusted tone before taking a bite from the fish.

"Anyways, you find out where the other detonator was? What happened to the scientists? How they even found that place?" Bradley asked with a barrage of questions.

"Yes, yes, and only a speculation," Storm answered in series. "The first detonator was destroyed in a small skirmish as they were placing the charges. Our buddy there made it back to the armory, synced a new detonator, and blew the charges. The scientists had their minds pulled apart quite forcibly. Anything of value they knew was drained out of them. How to reconfigure the hyper pulse and how to operate the machinery. We can only hope that none of them knew too much more than that. The BGR is pretty good at having their people operate at a need to know basis."

"And what happened to them after that?" Bradley inquired, though he feared the answer.

"They were brain dead. Their minds were quite literally torn apart from within as their interrogators went about their business. The soldiers could hear their screams of agony as they made their way to the power generators," Storm replied.

Bradley remained silent for a bit as he processed the information. He knew that the Latorii were capable of reading minds; however, he did not know the extent to which it went. Even after years as Storm's first in command when it came to ground operations, he still did not know everything there was to know about the alien race.

"As for how they found the base, I can only speculate that when the heavy scout fleet jumped in they conducted a thorough scan of the entire system," Storm continued. "You know what their scanners are like."

"Yeah, centuries beyond what humanity has at our disposal," Bradley responded before taking another bite out of his fish.

"Exactly…" Storm said as he closed his eyes. "It wouldn't be hard to see that a scan they performed could easily detect the unique hyper wave signature of the base. After they troops extracted the information from the scientists, they modify the base's systems to work against humanity. All things considered, we are lucky that the BGR troops there did manage to sabotage the power generators. It very well could have been the end of the war if they hadn't."

"The BGR may be full of untrustworthy spooks, but they can fight and do what needs to be done when it is demanded of them," Bradley stated before pausing for a moment. "I don't like them, but they have helped humanity in this war. They do gather intelligence that has given us the edge in a few battles and exposed weakness in Latorii technology before your mother gave us more information than we could have dreamed of."

"That and she still has a few contacts within the Latorii Empire. They usually feed us vital information when we need it the most. I imagine she will have me contact one of them after this battle to try and get information on this new transportation device of theirs," Storm mused as he took a bite of the fish.

"Still, if they knew about it, why didn't they give us an advanced warning?" Bradley countered. "I'm no expert, but this project of theirs seems like it would be hard to miss."

"I'm sure we will find out soon enough," Storm replied. "Anyways, we should go check up on the troop positions. I imagine things will be heating up rather soon."

"Agreed," Bradley said as he finished off the last of his fish and grabbed his rifle.

Minutes quickly turned to hours as the deployment of marines maintained their positions around the starport. Each passing minute was starting to take its toll on the soldiers. Around half of them had seen combat against the wolf-like aliens before, and were used to the fast campaigns they waged when conquering a planet. The wait they were currently enduring was unnerving for those with experience.

Storm managed to get the local militia to complete the perimeter around the vulnerable starport. Though it took an annoying long amount of time to get their command to comply with Storm's orders. The threat of being charged under War Protocol Seventy-Six quickly changed the stubborn commander's mind about cooperating with Storm and his marines. While the militia didn't have the training of Storm's marines, they would at least provide him some advanced warning if the Latorii were surrounding the starport as he figured they were. It was the only reason he could figure that the starport hadn't been attacked yet.

Storm and Bradley made their way back to the command area after making an inspection of the perimeter defenses. He let out a sigh as he glanced down at the holo-map. He rolled his injured shoulder some as it was still quite sore. Thankfully medical technology had advanced enough that a single bullet wound to a non-vital part of the body was more of a hindrance than anything else. Still, it prevented him from being able to comfortably operate his BowLance.

"We are missing something," Storm said after a while. "Latorii doctrine is to advance with as much speed as possible to their targets and to attack as soon as possible."

"And it worries you that they haven't?" Bradley asked as he also inspected the map.

"Yeah… it means they are finally evolving their combat tactics. We have relied on them being predictable for most of the war, but they have been anything but predictable during their campaign in this system," Storm countered.

Bradley remained silent as he retreated into his mind to think. After a few minutes passed, he glanced down at his watch. His eyes widened some before he grabbed a nearby tablet and started working with it.

"What are you onto?" Storm asked as he looked at the marine.

"Based on the time table we know, it could be that they are waiting for their main force to arrive. At this point, it's only around seventeen hours till the Latorii fleet arrives. At this point, we have lost forty percent of our vehicles and four percent of our marines. Having looked over the militia strength here, it leaves a lot to be desired. We might be outnumbered three to one, or two to one if we include the militia, but they would still take casualties in a direct assault with only one legion," Bradley proposed, explaining his train of thought.

"You may be have a point, but when have they ever cared about the number of casualties that they take. I am more willing to bet they are surrounding us and are going to hit us from all sides with everything they got all at once. It would play to their advantage the most," Storm countered. "Both situations are equally terrible, though we don't plan on being here by the time their main force arrives. If they see that we are about to leave, they won't wait for their main force."

"So what do you propose that we do?" Bradley asked as he glanced down at the holo-map.

"Well, if they are surrounding us, they are going to be close enough that they can still hit us if we are about to leave, yet not close enough that we could detect and engage them…" Storm mused as he typed several commands into the computer and two rings appeared around the starport on the map. "I would suspect that they would be in this zone. Maybe we can flush them out with a series of NOVA drops. If anything it might shake them up a bit."

"Give them a reminder as to why it is a bad idea to sit still? I like it," Bradley said with a sly smile.

Storm smiled back at the marine before entering in a few commands into the computer.

"Admiral Horner, I am sending to the coordinates for a blanket NOVA drop. We are going to saturate the area surrounding the starport," Storm ordered through the terminal.

"I read you, sir. I'll start the bombardment now. Expect the first slugs within the minute," Mark replied.

"Very well, admiral," Storm said before terminating the transmission. "Shall we go watch the fireworks?"

The two soldiers exited the building and waited as they gazed around the surrounding area. True to Admiral Horner's word, less than a minute later a barrage of twelve tungsten slugs slammed into the ground around the base. Thankfully the impact zones were far enough away that the ground only shook slightly. He hoped that the civilians boarding the ships were not too panicked by the orbital bombardment.

Each NOVA drop had a certain amount of beauty to it. The shear amount of kinetic energy each tungsten rod contained provided quite the explosion whenever it connected with the ground. The superheated pieces of tungsten was only visible for a brief second as it traveled at Mach ten. Massive clouds of dust and thrown up at each impact site the rods bore into the ground and unleashed the energy stored inside them.

The beautiful destruction continued thirty seconds later as another twelve rounds fell from orbit. Each rod impacted two miles apart from each other. It only took the two salvos to complete the loop around the starport. The forty-eight mile ring was left completely decimated after the bombardment finished.

"Nicely done, Mark," Storm mumbled under his breath. "Time to see if we stirred the hornets' nest."

Bradley simply nodded his head as he glanced around the falling dust clouds that surrounded the base. The two of them walked back to the command center with their rifles slung over their shoulders.

"Any news from the perimeter?" Storm asked as he came to a stop over the holo-map.

"None yet, sir," a soldier responded.

"What is the progress of the transports?"

"They are ahead of schedule and ninety percent complete. All civilians are onboard and the only tasks remaining are securing the vessels for transport."

"Alright, have all flights been stopped from Eagle Station?" Storm inquired.

"Yes sir," the soldier answered. "They are holding in orbit waiting for the transports to exit the atmosphere."

"Very good," Storm said as he turned to head back outside with Bradley following behind him.

"Where are you off to, sir," Bradley inquired.

"The perimeter wall," Strom replied. "If we did indeed sir the hornet's nest, I want to be leading the men."

"You know most commanders prefer to stay in their command centers," Bradley jested.

"Bradley, you should know by now that I am not like most commanders," Storm retorted with a sly smirk.

"And that is why I respect you as much as I do," Bradley said. "You actually lead the men instead of just ordering them around."

All of the sudden, their radios burst to life as the entire perimeter defenses came under attack. A large explosion shook the starport a ways in the distance. Not even a second later, another explosion sent vibrations through the ground. Looking towards the directions of the thunderous booms, the two officers could see twin columns of black smoke rising from the north.

"And that would be them breaching the perimeter wall…" Storm said with a sigh. "We better get going."

"Agreed," Bradley stated as the two of them started towards the large wall that surrounded the starport.

It did take too long before the sound of gunfire graced their ears. Every once in a while, the boom of a Centauro firing its 120mm main gun could be heard over the constant heavy caliber machineguns and rifle fire. A minute later, the two arrived behind a piece of rubble that had once been twenty meters in the air. Now it was lying on the ground a good ways away from the wall. Marines and militia alike were using whatever cover they could to hold of the advancing legion of Latorii infantry. A few men were still on top of the wall, attempting to fire down at the wolf-like aliens as they tried to fight their way through the massive hole in the wall.

Storm and Bradley crept around the large piece of titanium reinforced concrete before sprinting forwards to a squad of soldiers.

"Status report," Storm ordered as he came to a stop against another piece of rubble.

"Sir, heavy enemy assault. They breached the wall by placing plasma charges on it under their illusions. We won't be able to hold here without reinforcements," the sergeant replied before he stood up and fired several shots at the advancing troops.

"Very well," Storm said before pawing in several commands on the hidden alien device on his arm.

"Admiral, relocate our forces to my location. They have breached the perimeter wall and we are under heavy assault. Any air support you can get us would be greatly appreciated," Storm shouted, trying to get his voice over the constant barrage of gunfire.

"Aye sir, I will have two Dropships to your location momentary," Admiral Horner replied.

"Hit them outside the wall, we are still in control of the breach for the moment, but it won't stay that way for long," Storm elaborated as blue plasma arrows arced overhead. "Storm, out."

With that done, he popped his head over the piece of rubble and closed his left eye as he aimed down his sight. There had to be at least a hundred Latorii advancing towards the massive hole in the wall. Placing the crosshair of his scope on the nearest Latorii soldier that was outside of the main formation, Storm slowly exhaled, before depressing the trigger and letting loose the first round from his Mk.14. The armor piercing round slammed through the alien's skull before his lifeless body crumpled to the ground. Storm quickly switched targets before repeating the process, earning him yet another kill. His next target had a BowLance pointed straight at him. Without a second to spare, Storm ducked back into cover as the plasma arrow shot just over his head.

There was a large crack as the nearby Centauro fired of another round. The high explosive warhead tearing into a chunk of the advancing Latorii formation. The aliens were currently in a tight formation, using energy shields deployed from devices similar to the one Storm had on his left forearm. This had its advantages and disadvantages. While it provided them near immunity to small arms fire, it left them vulnerable to large caliber cannon fire.

Storm could tell the Latorii had been trying the best to destroy the human vehicle as its front was completely scorched and filled with holes from plasma arrows. While the Latorii weapons had great penetration against human vehicles, they didn't do much other than burn through everything in a straight line. Unless they hit something important, the vehicles could keep fighting. Though with that many holes in the front of the Centauro, Storm could easily see why it was firing much slower than usual. For all he knew there was only one soldier left alive inside manning the gun.

"So when is that air support getting here?" The sergeant from before asked as he unloaded another magazine at the advancing aliens. "We can't hold off that formation much longer."

"Soon, I hope…" Storm replied, mumbling the last two words before he also stood up and fired three quick rounds at a few of the wolves that had broken formation to try and engage a squad of marines on their flank.

That was when Storm's powerful hearing picked up on the roar of the Dropships' engines. While no human could possibly hear them under the current firefight, every Latorii knew what was coming. They tried to scatter but were still in the corridor in the wall, leaving them few options. Many tried to rush forward, breaking their tight formation. Every soldier present was firing into the aliens with everything that they had. The wolven aliens were doing the exact same. Plasma arrows shot out from their BowLances and easily burned through the marines' armor, killing them instantly as the superheated gas entered their body.

The wolves were a mere twenty yards from their position before the ground in front of them turned to froth. Four columns of dirt worked its way forwards to the wall as multi-cannons on the side of both Dropships tore through the Latorii formation. Next came a series of explosions as each unleashed a salvo of rockets from their underside. This was followed by two large explosions in the hole in the wall as the large cannon under the nose of both craft loosed a single shell.

The two craft the soared overhead before rapidly climbing to gain altitude. Their shields glowed purple as ground fire from the remaining Latorii rose up to greet them. One advantage humans had over the advanced aliens was the Latorii's lack of ground vehicles and the heavy weapons that could be mounted on them. That being the case, the wolves' ground based anti-aircraft defenses were rather lacking to say the least. While the Latorii BowLance was powerful, against the shielded and heavily armored human ships it took several hundred plasma arrows to break their shields. While this wasn't the most practical of defenses, it has still proven to be quite deadly when entire columns of Latorii soldiers would fire a volley of hundreds of plasma arrows.

The other reason that such a lack of anti-aircraft weapons never bothered the wolf-like aliens was that they usually had their powerful Majestic-class Interdictors in orbit, providing the planetside forces with swarms of Eagles to call upon to intercept human strike craft. However, since this Latorii legion had made it onto the planet via unorthodox methods, there were no such space forces to provide them with the air support they desperately needed.

The Dropships quickly made another pass against the forces that were still outside the wall. This attack was much less effective as the wolves had scattered into a much looser formation outside the wall where they were safe from the marines' small arms fire.

Looking around, Storm performed a quick head count in the brief respite the airstrike had provided. There were only about a dozen of them left as bodies were scattered all over the ground in front of him. Most of them were Latorii, but far too many of them were human. The Centauro was out of action, its barrel exploding after a plasma arrow cut a hole in it right before the vehicle fired. The shell got stuck in the barrel causing it to mushroom out at that point from the pressure of the gas behind it.

"We cannot hold here without reinforcements," Bradley breathed out from under his helmet.

"It won't be too much longer till they try and force their way through again," Storm said as he looked up at the circling Dropships. As long as they were overhead, the wolves wouldn't dare another attack. "Our air support cannot fly overhead forever."

"Don't need forever, just need a few more minutes," Bradley replied.

"Mark, can you give me an E.T.A. on the reinforcements?" Storm asked through the radio.

"They are about two minutes out, sir," the admiral replied, "However, our lines are now stretched dangerously thin. Any attack at any other part of the wall will undoubtedly break through. I have taken all of the men off of the point further from the transports to tighten our perimeter."

"Very well, how long till the transports are airborne?" Storm inquired as he peered over the concrete towards the hole in the wall.

"Their fusion reactors are starting up now. They should be back into orbit within the hour," Admiral Horner responded.

"Alright, I want all of our Dropships ready to evacuate the rest of us once they are airborne. If they've got civilians on them right now, either drop them back off in Eagle or take them aboard the Fairlock for the moment," Storm ordered.

"Yes, sir," Mark said before terminating the radio link.

Two minutes later, two more Centauros rolled up with three Freccias. Two dozen marines disembarked from the IFVs and joined up with Storm's unit.

"Hold my rifle," Storm stated, holding out his Mk.14 towards Bradley. The marine officer grabbed the old rifle as Storm started sat down on his knees. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Holding out his arm, a blue light engulfing it along with two large pieces of concrete that were lying on the ground next to the wall. The two piece of rubble lifted into the air ever so slightly before moving over to the wall breach before each landed with a thud. While the hole wasn't completely closed off, it provided another obstacle for anyone trying to get through it.

Storm opened his eyes as he exhaled, expelling all the air in his lungs. He leaned forward onto his arms as his chest heaved. A thin line a sweat had gathered on his fur under the illusion that covered him. The task would have been a rather simple one for any Latorii with their psychic power. However, since storm wasn't a thoroughbred Latorii, his psychic powers weren't quite on par with the rest of the alien race. While his raw strength didn't have any problems matching that of the wolven aliens, it did take a lot more effort for him to achieve similar results.

"That… that should help us out a bit," Storm managed to say as he sat back up and took in a deep breath. He placed one of his gloved paws on the chunk of concrete they were using as cover as he reached out and grabbed his rifle with the other.

"That it should," Bradley replied. Even though he had seen Storm do similar feats many times before, it still amazed him to this day what the wolf was capable of doing.

That was when there was another set of explosions on the other side of the starport. Almost immediately, the two Dropships overhead broke off and raced towards the new breach, intent on plugging the new hole with as much munitions as possible.

"There goes the air support…" Bradley sighed as peeked over the chunk of concrete and leveled his rifle at the wall breach in front of him.

"Given that the rest of the wall is rather weak right now, they need it more than us…" Storm said as he did the same.

The thirty or so marines were spread out behind various cover as they waited for the alien assault to start up again. Each was tightly gripping their rifle, stocks tucked in against their shoulders. Storm's eyes carefully scanned over the land in front of him, looking for anything that would be off. He knew the Latorii would usually try and sneak in under their illusions if they could.

That was when a marine to his left unleashed two shots at a piece of concrete near the wall. There was a reverberating sound of metal striking metal as the bullet collided with the armor of a cloaked Latorii soldier. That was when the rest of the line opened up, unleashing a wall of fire. Both main guns from the Centauros opened fire, two 120mm high explosive rounds detonating on the ground near the wall. Dirt and grass were flung into the air as the result of the explosion along with several wolven soldiers.

The Latorii were not taking their losses lightly. As soon as their cover was blown, plasma arrows from their BowLances arced through the air towards the marines. A few of the wolves threw plasma grenades which they propelled forward with their psychic powers towards the human lines. One such grenade was hurtling towards the piece of concrete Storm and several other marines were using as cover. He psychically stopped it midair and threw it back into the Latorii lines. The other marines were not as lucky as the deadly grenades exploded near them, ripping into them or destroying their cover. The number of marines quickly dropped even as they desperately fought to hold the line.

The Freccia IVFs had been firing nonstop with their 25mm autocannons. One of them was a burning wreck as a plasma arrow had burned into its ammunition storage. Both of the Centauros were firing as often as they could, taking the time to use the machine guns between main gun rounds. Even with all of this firepower at their disposal, it was clear that the humans were losing ground.

"Fall back!" Storm yelled out as it became clear that holding their current position was impossible. He switched over to his radio and ordered the remaining vehicle to pop off a smoke screen. Almost immediately, the smoke grenades from the Freccias and Centauros shot out from their launchers and covered the human positions in a thick smoke screen. The marines ran back to the vehicles and mounted them in any way they could. Once the troop compartments of the Freccias were full, men resorted to climbing on top of the vehicles. With everybody on a ride out, the vehicles floored it in reverse.

Not a second later, the smoke screen was forcibly dispersed as a wave of psychic energy tore through the air. The Freccias fired a few parting bursts as they retreated away from the wall. Once they were a short distance away, the vehicles turned around and powered off at their max forward speed as soldiers on the outside of the vehicles desperately clung onto whatever they could. Every little bump in the ground that they crossed over threatening to launch them into the air.

"Admiral Horner, we need a NOVA Drop on our previous location. We were overrun and are clearing the area. Give us forty seconds to exit the blast zone," Storm ordered as he clung on the main gun of a Centauro, riding on top of its hull.

"Yes sir, I should also report that the second wall breach is also collapsing," Mark replied from his position on the bridge of the battlecruiser. "The Dropships that were providing air support were forced out of the area by sustained ground fire that managed to deplete their shields. They are returning to the Fairlock to rearm. I have already vectored in another pair to provide cover."

"Admiral, relay a message to the captains of the evacuation ships. Tell them we cannot hold the starport much longer and that they need to get airborne _now_! Tell them to skip whatever steps they can in their startup sequences. Initiate Omega Protocol; we need to leave!" Stormed yelled out as the wind from moving at nearly sixty miles per hour whipped at his body, making him wish he hadn't forgotten to put in his earpiece earlier.

Overhead, more Dropships could be seen racing towards the other breach in the wall. Their loud engines easily audible against the sound of the wind. Thirty seconds later, Stormed ordered all of the vehicles to stop as they cleared the one mile blast radius of the NOVA Drop. Moments later, the ground shook with the force of a massive earthquake. Several marines fell off of the vehicle they were riding on from the blast created by the kinetic bombardment. Seconds later, a massive dust cloud surged out from the point of impact, covering everything in its path in a film of fine particles of dirt. All of the other marines were shielded from the blast by the metal plating that made up their armor.

Storm was protected by his armor's passive psychic shield. It wasn't a very strong shield as it was simply meant to protect the wearer from the environment. Anything stronger than that and it would have been too taxing for the operator. It was this same shield that allowed Latorii soldiers to fight on moons without atmospheres.

Storm looked around at his surroundings once the ground stopped shaking. There was still a large amount of dust hanging in the air. It appeared as if he was living in some post-apocalyptic scenario. Soldiers all around him were groaning as those that had fallen off of the vehicles stood back up. They slowly climbed back onto the vehicles before the vehicles started driving towards the landing pads that were close to the massive evacuation ships.

Given the massive size of the starport, it took them several minutes as the vehicles drove at a more comfortable pace than before. The remaining marines and militiamen were pouring in from around the base. Most of them had visible signs of combat showing on them. Given the limited number transports, most of them had sprinted here from their positions on the wall.

As the vehicles came to a stop, there was a massive roar as the engines of the first evacuation ship started up. Looking over at the large vessel, Storm saw it slowly rising into the air after it was released from its docking clamps. The ship looked much like a standard ACS warship, its elongated triangle-like shape. They were older Farragut-class battlecruisers that had been damaged beyond what was seen as practical to restoring to service. The vessels were stripped of their heavy weapons and hanger bays, had more armor plating added, every square inch of the ship filled with very cramped living quarters, and powerful ventral engines installed to help the ships enter and leave planets' gravitational fields.

The ship soon pointed its nose up slightly as its main engines kicked in, supplementing is ventral booster engines as the craft slowly rose into the air. Minutes later, the second ship's engines started up before it started to ascend into the atmosphere. Another ship took off at the same time as they scrambled to get off of the Latorii infested planet and back into space. While most people would have objected to the close spaces in which the large vessels were operating, this was hardly the time to bring up such objections.

Another NOVA Drop slammed into the ground at the location of the second wall breach as the last of marines arrived at the landing pads. Dropships landed with heavy thuds as they started loading surviving vehicles and soldiers. One thousand marines had come down on the Dropships from the Fairlock. Storm could tell that there was substantially less than that present here, even with the militia forces mixed in this his men.

Storm watched the last of the massive civilian ships take off before boarding a Dropship. The ramp folded up behind him and the door dropped and sealed off the troop compartment from the outside of the ship. He sat down with a sigh next to Colonel Bradley.

"Too close…" He muttered as he leaned his head back.

"And we aren't home free yet…" Bradley responded. "Still got one space station to evacuate…"

* * *

Massively overdue chapter is massively overdue. I do sincerely apologize for how long this chapter took me to write. I was rather busy over the summer between my job and a summer class I was taking. College so far has been keeping me pretty busy as well. Not sure when the next chapter will be finished, but I will try and get it out faster than I got this one out.

Nonetheless, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. I know that I certainly enjoyed writing it.


	6. Fall of Raytheon

Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 21, 3340, Raytheon System-

All of the evacuation ships made it off the planet, two million civilians crammed into their hulls. The next task would be to maneuver several of the large ships around Eagle Station so that they could take on the remaining civilians that were still aboard the orbital city. No easy task given the massive size of everything involved. Still, I am relieved that we have lasted as long as we have.

However, I am worried. We are running out of time till the main Latorii force arrives. With all that has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if they move up their time table and attack with whatever forces they have at the time. They no longer require an invasion army, just a fleet of warships. Given that Latorii hyper drive technology is vastly superior to humanity's in both range and speed, their ships do not spend any notable time in hyperspace where as human ships require several days to reach their destination.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship _Fairlock_

* * *

The Dropships touched down inside the _Fairlock's_ hangar bay one after the other. The artificial gravity for the large hangar currently active as to aid in the marines' disembark from their Dropships. Strom and Bradley had started walking down the ramp before it had even finished lowering. The rest of the marines and a few militiamen followed them out of the troop compartment. Storm's Mk.14 was slung over his right shoulder. Adrenaline had kept him going on the planet's surface, but now that he was back on the battlecruiser, the lack of proper rest was starting to catch up with him. The only sleep he had gotten since the Latorii heavy scout fleet had entered the system the previous day was a small three hour nap during the evacuation of Falcon Station.

"Bradley, see that your men get some rest. Their job is done and they deserve it," Storm said as walked towards the corridor that lead to the bridge.

"Yes sir," Bradley replied, giving his head a quick nod in acknowledgement. The two officers then parted ways, Bradley and his marines heading towards the ship's barracks while Storm continued to the command bridge. It didn't take him to long to reach his destination as the section of the hangar dedicated to the Dropships was towards the rear of the battlecruiser, closer to the bridge.

"Commander on the bridge," Admiral Horner called out as the entire bridge crew stood and saluted towards Storm.

"At ease," Storm responded saluting back to the men before sitting down in his chair. "Anything new to report, admiral?"

"No sir," Horner answered, walking over and standing next to him. "Four of the evacuation ships with the most available space are moving in orbit towards Eagle Station at this moment."

"Very well, any new contacts?" Storm inquired, looking over at his executive naval officer.

"None yet sir. I dispatched the last of our Assault ships to the star to act as a scout. When the raiding force of Cutters entered the system, they destroyed our hyper wave sensors around the star," Admiral Horner stated.

"Alright, good job. That will give us some warning if they main force arrives before we jump out of the system," Storm replied before letting out a yawn.

"Go get some rest sir, we have everything under control here," Horner said with a stifled laugh.

"Admiral Horner has the con," Storm called out before standing up to do exactly what his XO suggested. With everything seemingly going fine, Storm departed from the command bridge and started towards his room. Thankfully, the two were relatively close to each other. After he entered in his security code, the door let out a slight hiss as it slid open.

As soon as it closed behind, he instantly dropped the illusion that was surrounding his body, his appearance going from typical human marine to Latorii legionary in the blink of an eye. He wasted no time in taking off the armor that surrounded his fur, leaving only the thin clothes that he wore underneath on. He placed his rifle and armor back where he had taken them from before collapsing onto his bed. Within seconds he was out cold, his chest slowly rising and falling as he breathed in his sleep.

Storm woke to the sound of alarms blaring throughout the ship as the call to general quarters was sounded. Looking over at the clock that was on his nightstand, he saw that he had been out for about five hours. While not as much as he would have liked, it would have to do. Jumping out of his bed, he wrapped his feet in cloth strips in a typical Latorii fashion when not wearing armor. Not bothering to put on anything more than what he was now wearing, he created an illusion around himself. He once again appeared in his ACS uniform similar to the one that Admiral Horner wore.

Setting out for the bridge, Storm ran as fast as he could. All around him, others were rushing towards their positions as well. Upon entering the command bridge, Storm could hear Horner issuing commands to the various officers.

"Order the evacuation ships to perform an emergency decoupling procedure and prepare to jump to hyperspace," Admiral Horner called out.

"Admiral, get me up to speed," Storm said as he sat down in his chair overlooking the rest of the bridge.

"The Assault Ship we had in position at the star just reported three separate cascade events. They are moving to get a closer look now," Horner responded as he looked over at Storm.

"Visual coming up now," one of the bridge officers reported as a live feed from the Assault Ship was displayed.

Visible were three massive Imperial Interdictors, each surrounded by their own small fleet of support ships. Their sleek white designs were unmistakable in the blackness of space. Everyone on the bridge knew they did not stand a chance against such a large fleet. The human fleet had already sustained enough damage that even a small Latorii force would overwhelm them. Now they were up against an entire battle group.

"Admiral Horner, prep what ships we have for combat. We need to buy the evacuation ships time to complete their jumps," Storm said before turning his attention to the helmsman. "Flip the ship over, get our port side facing the star."

"Aye sir," the helmsman responded, turning his controls hard to the right. Outside the ship, engines on the top and bottom of the battlecruiser ignited causing the ship to spin along its longitudinal axis. Once the ship was halfway through its spin, the helmsman reversed his controls in order to halt the ship's spin. Positioned just behind the capital ship was the lone surviving Corvette. All of the battlecruiser's remaining strike craft and fighters were already out of the hangar, their pilots having been waiting for the order to launch. In all honesty, Storm wasn't feeling very confident. This force wouldn't be enough to take on a lone Interdictor, let alone three of them and their supporting fleet.

Seconds ticked by as the fleet waited for the Latorii force to arrive. There was an eerie silence as all eyes were on their respective scanners. Two minutes after the Assault Ship reported that the Latorii fleet had engaged their FTL drives, the scanners lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Multiple contacts, range three hundred kilometers, bearing zero-one-zero off the port beam, zero-two-two down angle!" An officer called out.

"Mikael, rapid count," Storm said calmly.

"Three Majestic class Interdictors, fifteen Cutters, twenty-one Clippers, and a great number of smaller ships of various classes," the AI responded. "Recommend immediate withdrawal from the system."

"Not yet, we have to see the evacuation ships out first," Storm replied. "Helmsman, all ahead full. Get us between their fleet and the Eagle Station."

"All ahead full, aye sir," the helmsman said before pushing his throttle forward all of the way. The battlecruiser's massive engines burst to life as they started to propel the ship towards the alien fleet.

"They executed a rather smart jump, dropping into position on the opposite side of the station," Admiral Horner observed as he look at the massive orbital city in the distance. He could see the evacuation ship were still attached to their docking ports. "They should have detached by now..."

Storm punched in a quick command on his console and opened a channel to one of the ship's captains.

"Captain, why have you not executed the emergency decoupling?" Storm inquired in a harsh voice.

"There are still civilians on the station sir. They have the loading area jammed and we are unable to close our docking clamps. If we decouple now-"

"Captain, if you don't decouple now, all of us are doing to die. I am ordering you to decouple and jump out of the system," Storm said, hating the words as they left his muzzle.

"Aye sir..." the captain replied before turning to an officer next to him. "Close the airtight doors around the loading bays and purge them."

Everyone on the bridge watched in muted horror as the massive ship pulled away from the space station, large amounts of gas visible as it flooded out from the station. This process was repeated with the other ships as well. Storm clenched his firsts before closing his eyes. He hated himself for giving those orders, but he knew they had to be given. Undoubtedly, thousands of people had just found themselves sucked out into the vacuum of space and were now dead.

"Range to enemy fleet is two-hundred kilometers and closing. They will be in range of the transports in one minute. We will not have a firing solution for another ninety seconds," Mikael reported.

"Order the strike craft to run interference, try and buy the transports some time," Storm ordered in a somber tone. Moments later, the bridge crew could see the remaining fighters racing forwards ahead of the ship. There were not too many of them left after the skirmish that had occurred at the star, but it would have to do for now.

The Vipers and Vultures accelerated as fast as their engines would push them as they closed in on the enemy fleet. They passed by the massive evacuation ships just as the three Latorii capital ships opened fire. Three high intensity laser pulses shot out of each interdictor, each shot impacting against the heavily armored human ships.

"We are now within effective firing range," Mikael said, "Firing all available railguns."

Instantly, the AI discharged all six of the double barreled railgun turrets along his calculated intercept paths. All twelve rounds were aimed at the nearest Majestic class Interdictor in hopes of pulling its attention away from the fleeing civilian ships. Ten of the twelve rounds stuck their target seven seconds later, the large ship unable to alter its course enough in the fifty kilometer distance separating the battlecruiser from the Latorii fleet. However, the heavily advanced alien armor protected the capital ship from any major damage.

The attack did succeed in getting the attention of the Latorii fleet. Two of the massive interdictors shifted their fire towards the lone human battlecruiser. Six beams of blue, high intensity laser slammed into the thick armor that protected the warship. Thankfully, the armor managed to withstand the first blast, though Storm knew that it wouldn't last long under the concentrated fire of two Latorii interdictors.

He watched as the evacuation ships passed by the _Fairlock_ as they continued to put as much distance between themselves and the attacking aliens. It wouldn't be long till they were free from the grasp of the planets gravity and would be able to jump out of the system. Mikael had been continuously firing the ship's railguns as fast as they could be fired. The AI had managed to knock out two of the six heavy laser cannons that were firing on the warship. The third Interdictor had shifted its fire from the retreating civilian ships and turned its attention to the massive space station, raking it with heavy and medium laser fire. Large pieces of the orbital city were breaking off and falling towards the planet below.

"Sir, the evacuation ships are powering up their hyper drives now," an officer reported as Storm observed the battle.

"Very well, helmsman, hard turn to port, get us out of the gravity well and into jump position. Start up the cascade drives and prep for emergency jump," Storm ordered. "Recall all surviving strike craft."

"Aye sir," several different officers responded before they started inputting various commands into their consoles.

Engines all over the massive battlecruiser fired up as it banked and turned away from the approaching Latorii fleet. The ship's maneuvering computer did most of the work when it came to engaging the proper engines at the proper time. Lasers continued to tear at the ship's thick armor, slowing burning its way through the plating. Storm knew it would not be long till the ship suffered a hull breach.

The _Fairlock_ was halfway through its turn when a concentrated burst of laser fire tore into the exposed underside of the ship. Alarms blared throughout the bridge as various officers called out serval hull breaches and damage reports.

"Sir, all surviving strike craft have landed and the hangar doors are closed. We are ready to disengage," an officer called out.

"Prepare to deploy Halycon mines and engage the cascade jump drive," Storm ordered as the ship leveled out on its course away from the planet.

"Aye, sir!"

Moments later four large, black cylinders were jettisoned from the back of the ship. Each mine contained a fifteen megaton thermonuclear warhead with proximity sensors. The four Halycons spread out in a cone shape from the rear of the massive battlecruiser.

"Commence cascade jump," Storm said. The lights on the bridge dimmed as the power hungry cascade engines drained power from around the ship. Moments later, a black cloud of energy formed directly ahead of the warship. Upon reaching the cascade cloud, blue energy scraped along the edges of the ship as they came in contact with the black cloud. It took a few seconds before the entire ship was engulfed in the cascade energy. From the bridge, the view was solid black with a few streaks of blue and purple as the ship started its journey through the hole it had created in space.

"Cascade jump initiated. Estimated time of arrival in the Soliloquy System is three days," the navigation officer called out.

"Very well, take the ship off of general quarters. Start on an after-action report as well as repairing what can be fixed..." Storm said as he stood up from his chair. "Admiral, you have the con."

"Aye sir," Admiral Horner replied.

Storm let out a long sigh as he reached his room. Upon hearing the door hiss close behind him, he dropped the illusion that covered his body and made him appear human. His ears were pointed backward as he made his way over to his bed. He knelt down at its edge and closed his eyes, entering into a meditative state. The evacuation of Raytheon had gone much worse than he had hoped. He didn't bother asking how many people they were forced to leave behind nor did he intend to. As it was, there were more pressing matters to attend to. The most urgent was the fact that the Latorii had just learned the location of twenty human worlds and now had the means to rapidly transit entire armies to them.

The one part of good news from this mess was that the short blip of information that the wolven aliens had gained wasn't enough for them to transport their armies there immediately. They would still have to send scout fleets to the compromised systems to gain real time data for the cascade bridge to lock onto.

That was the other pressing matter, this cascade bridge... Such a device would make holding back Latorii nearly impossible. Human worlds would fall faster and with higher casualties. The faster planets fell, the faster the Latorii could drive their advance into the human core worlds. If the core worlds started falling, then the factories and orbital dockyards that produced the ACS ships and weapons would fall as well. The loss of said factories and dockyards would seal the fate of humanity to that of extinction. This very well could be the beginning of the end.

Storm opened his eyes before standing up and pulling off his shirt. He placed it with the rest of his clothes that needed cleaning before once again crawling back into his bed. It took him a bit longer to fall asleep as his mind raced with thoughts. Eventually the wolf managed to fall to sleep once again. This time, there were no interruptions as the ship traveled through hyper space. When Storm woke up, he saw that it had been six hours since the ship and its crew had escaped from the Raytheon System.

He rolled out of his bed and started for his washroom. A small smirk worked its way onto his muzzle as he looked at himself in a mirror. His fur was sticking out in all sorts of awkward directions and the long grey hair that was present on the back of his head had clearly seen better days. He then glanced that the bandages that were wrapped around his injured left shoulder. They needed to be changed and his wound inspected. It could wait until after he had washed up and gotten the smell of combat out of his fur.

The anthropomorphic wolf took his time as he thoroughly cleaned his entire body. One benefit of being completely covered in fur was he only ever needed to use shampoo. The downside being it took quite a while to actually get clean. In the end, Storm was grateful for the opportunity to wash up. He redressed his wound and replaced the bandages before rotating the injured shoulder some to make sure he had enough mobility with the bandages. Once satisfied with the bandages, he dressed himself in thin, light clothes that did not bother his fur and wrapped his hind paws in cloth strips. As he walked towards the door, Storm once again put up an illusion around his form.

Upon leaving his quarters, he made his way up to the command bridge. Admiral Horner wasn't present and Storm assumed that he was getting some rest. This was confirmed as he saw that the bridge was currently manned by a skeleton crew that alternated with normal crew during long hyperspace jumps. Thankfully the members of this crew were more laid back than the admiral and simply nodded a greeting towards their commander.

"Welcome back, commander," the helmsman said as Storm took his seat.

"Thank you, lieutenant," Storm replied as he looked out into the depths of hyperspace. It had a strange beauty to it, and Storm found it to be quite relaxing. "Anything new to report?"

"The admiral told me to inform you that the action report you requested is ready on your comm pad," the lieutenant responded.

Stormed nodded his thanks to the helmsman before picking up the comm pad from a compartment on the side of his chair. He punched in his CAS (Central Authorization Security) code into the electronic pad. He slid one of his three fingers along the surface several times before finding the file he was looking for. The device forced him to enter in his CAS code once more. His eyes started tracing back and forth over the text once he had read the first two bits of information.

Killed: 57

Wounded: 139

These numbers only included the personnel that manned the ship, including neither the number of pilots nor marines lost. Those totals would eventually make their way to him from their respective officers. Storm was sure that in the end, both of those numbers would be much larger than they currently were. For having just fought a major battle, they were well below the average throughout the rest of the ACS Navy.

His eyes continued to scan down the pages of text and diagrams that elaborated on the damage sustained to the ship. The only considerable major damage taken during the Raytheon campaign was to the starboard side dorsal railgun turrets. The damage taken to the underside of the battlecruiser while over a larger area was not as significant. When designing the massive human warships, the engineers had wisely put nonessential compartments along the exterior of the hull wherever they could manage. It would take about a week to repair the _Fairlock_ and replenish her ammunition and food stocks.

Replacement crew, pilots, and marines would have to be assigned. It would take some time for them to integrate with the rest, but thankfully morale was high aboard the _Fairlock_. While most civilians held a distain for the Latorii hybrid, those among the ACS military held him with a certain amount of respect. They respected his ability to lead his men and command his vessel, but most still didn't like working with him and certainly not under him.

Once Storm finished reading through the document, he closed the file and locked his comm pad before placing it back into its compartment. Storm looked up from his chair overlooking the command bridge as the crew worked to keep the warship in hyperspace, making minor corrections to the ship's course every once in a while as it navigated the curved route to the Soliloquy System. While curved routes took longer to navigate, they prevented the Latorii from simply following behind retreating human ships.

"How is the hyperspace conduit holding up?" Storm inquired as he once again looked out into the mostly black void.

"Quite nicely if I do say so myself, commander. This jump was well within the capabilities of this lovely lady," he said as he patted the metal of the console he was sitting at, his comment referring to the _Fairlock_.

Storm nodded in reply as he closed his eyes. While there had been no damage to the cascade drive, it never hurt to ask. He had heard stories of ships that tried to jump beyond their jump range or with damaged hyperdrives. The resulting hyperspace conduit would taper out towards the end of the jump resulting with the ship being dumped out into normal space with considerable damage.

He sat with the bridge crew for another half hour before getting up and leaving as they had everything well under control. If there was one downside to being in hyperspace, it was that there wasn't much of anything to do. The _Fairlock_ was currently unable to receive nor transmit any messages. Storm knew that before they arrived at the Soliloquy System he would have to put together a formal report about the battle and the events that had transpired. While they had sent out several quick bursts of information to ACS high command, they still needed to see everything in one place. He also knew that he would have to meet some rather unpleasant spooks. The BGR would be more than interested to discuss with him what all he had learned at their precious blacksite.

Storm let out a low growl as he thought about that future encounter. Undoubtedly there would be a Python with a coat of solid black paint waiting for the _Fairlock_ upon their exit from hyperspace. If there were any people he absolutely hated meeting, it was those self-righteous spooks who thought they were better than everyone else. They had no respect for him nor his mother. He doubted they saw the two of them as people, only as assets to be used in the war.

Looking around, Storm realized he had just been wandering through the halls of the battlecruiser. He was a bit frustrated with his current thoughts. Though he knew that his current level of frustration would be nothing compared to how he would feed after his meeting with the spooks. Storm took a deep breath before heading towards the ship's hangar deck. With nothing else to do at the moment, he decided to look over his Eagle.

The fighter was one of a kind in the ACS navy as it was a reverse engineered prototype built off of the Imperial Eagle his mother had used when defecting from the Latorii Empire. While its performance was good, most pilots that tested the craft preferred the heavier firepower of their Vultures. So the Eagle project was scrapped and the prototype mothballed. Once Storm was old enough to fly, his father had the Eagle pulled out of storage and refurbished so he could learn. In the end, Storm liked the agile fighter enough to stick with it. While he had flown a Vulture a few times, he absolutely hated how they performed in atmosphere. The best way he could describe it was trying to fly a brick.

Storm traced his paw along the sleek, black metal as a small smile worked its way onto his muzzle. This ship held a lot of memories for him. Some were happy memories while others were sad. His mind momentarily drifted over to his father before he shook his head and cleared his thoughts. He climbed up to the cockpit and ran a quick systems diagnostic. While he knew that everything on the fighter would be in working order, it never hurt to check. Once the report popped up and confirmed that everything was in working order, Storm powered the computer off and locked down the Eagle.

The rest of the three day trip was rather uneventful. Storm had finished his detailed report that he would eventually give to his superiors. It had all of the information about the tactics and strategy used by the Latorii during the battle. Most of the report was dedicated to the cascade bridge that the wolven aliens had used to get their troops onto the planet's surface along with the BGR site that they had found. In all, it was a grim report for grim times.

He had on occasion gone and talked with the civilian girl he had picked up on Falcon Station. Sarah seemed to be doing alright though there sadly wasn't much for her to do. He had found a few books for her to read from the ship's meager library. Most books were electronic, but most large ships carried a small library with a selection of physical books. She was in the unfortunate position of being a civilian on a military warship in hyperspace. At least the crew of the ship had their jobs to keep them busy while Sarah had very little she could do. She was mostly confined to her large room as she wasn't allowed to freely roam around the ship.

Storm had kept her company when he could and would on occasion walk with her around the ship or eat a meal with her. He certainly enjoyed talking with her. While he also enjoyed talking with members of his crew, they still saw him as their boss. So it was nice to have an outsider to talk with. Though it was rather awkward when she asked him questions about his family and personal life. That was one thing his crew knew not to talk with him about. He was only comfortable talking about those topics with Admiral Horner and Colonel Bradley.

He had learned that she had been a doctor's assistant on Falcon Station and had a considerable amount of medical knowledge. Given that she had no direct family left, had no way to contact her friends she had on Falcon Station, and only a few contacts outside of the Raytheon System, Storm offered her a position as part of the ship's medical team. The ship's lead doctor had tested her knowledge and said she was qualified for the job. Sarah had yet to accept the position and had been thinking over the proposed job.

Storm was on the command bridge as the ship was in the final minutes of its hyperspace jump. He had made his way to his position overlooking the bridge when three short tones sounded throughout the ship, signaling thirty minutes till the jump was to be completed. This was followed by two tones at twenty minutes and a single tone at ten minutes.

"Hyperspace conduit is stable. Cascade drives are spinning up and approaching optimal RPM," an officer called out from his station.

"All ship systems are nominal. Main engines coming online now," another said as he entered commands into his console.

"The ship is ready to exit hyperspace. Estimated time till drop is ninety seconds," Mikael reported in his electronic voice.

"Very well," Storm responded as he watched the bridge crew work. He then reached down and grabbed the microphone for the ship's intercom.

"Thirty seconds," Mikael reported.

"All hands, prep for exit from hyperspace in twenty-five seconds," Storm said over the ship's intercom before placing the microphone back where it belonged.

He watched outside as the black void continued to pass by the warship. By now there were hardly any blue or purple streaks to contrast the never ending black. Storm listened as Mikael counted down the final seconds of long journey. Upon reaching zero, there was an ever so slight jolt as if the battlecruiser had gotten caught in a net.

The bow of the _Fairlock_ seemed to disappear before more and more of ship disappeared into nothingness. It took a few seconds before the bridge passed through the invisible gateway. Instantly, the bridge crew found themselves looking out directly at a Class O star. The blue-white star was massive at roughly forty solar masses. The automatic, instantaneous tinting of the glass shielded the bridge crew's eyes from the extremely bright star.

"Cascade jump complete. The _Fairlock_ has arrived in the Soliloquy System. All scans indicate the system is under normal operations," Mikael reported.

"Two hundred lightyears in three days," Admiral Horner said as he looked down at the navigation chart.

"Thank the Lord for hyperdrives," Storm replied as he gazed out at the star in front of the ship. "Never seen a Class O star before. They are rather beautiful."

"I have seen a few before, but they certainly are bright blue stars," Mark replied

"Sir, we are being hailed..." the communications officer called out, his low tone indicating who was trying to contact them.

"Put it through..." Storm responded with a sigh, as he looked up towards the main screen. A few moments later, a man in a solid black uniform appeared on screen.

"Commander Savarin, I am Captain Redford. I request permission to dock with your vessel, and that you come aboard for questioning," the BGR officer said, knowing full well that the request was more of a demand.

"Granted," Storm replied though the transmission was terminated by Redford before he had finished. Storm placed a paw to his forehead and rubbed between his eyes.

"Sir, we just picked up the BGR Python on scanners. It will be here in ten minutes," an officer called out.

Storm simply nodded in response before leaning back in his chair and letting out a sigh. He knew this was going to happen and yet that didn't make him feel any better. His body tensed slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"We should get ready sir," Admiral Horner said.

"Very well..." Storm replied as he stood up. "Helmsman, keep us in orbit around the star for now."

"Aye sir."

The Python was forced to pull alongside the battlecruiser as it was too large to fit inside the _Fairlock_ 's hangar. Once it was alongside the warship, a docking port extended out of the battlecruiser's hull towards the Python. After a bit of maneuvering, the smaller ship managed to dock with the large capital ship.

Storm was waiting with Admiral Horner at the entrance to the docking tube. In the time it had taken for the spy ship to arrive and dock with the _Fairlock_ , he had gone to his room and changed into his armor. If he was going to be questioned the spooks, he was going to look the part as he wouldn't be able to hide behind his illusion when under their questioning.

Upon seeing the light above the door flash green, the two navy officers pressed forward. As soon as they stepped through the door, they exited the _Fairlock_ 's artificial gravity field. Mark stayed grounded due to the magnetic boots he was wearing while Storm simply used his psychic powers while he could. The door on the other end of the hallway slid open revealing three people dressed in black uniforms.

"Get it over with, Mark..." Storm said in a low voice so that only Admiral Horner could hear him. Storm tensed as he felt the cold metal along his neck fur. Then with a click, the collar locked around his neck. There was a brief hum before Storm shuddered as the suppression collar activated. Instantly, his illusion faded and revealed his true form.

Storm absolutely hated these collars. Well, when he was forced to wear them. Still, he had a certain amount of pity for the Latorii prisoners that had to wear them constantly. The best way to describe the effects of the suppression collar was lonely and empty. The psychic presence that has always been with him was suddenly cut off and replaced with nothing but emptiness.

"I see the dog knows the rules," Captain Redford said with a smirk.

"I am a wolf, not a dog," Storm growled out in a low tone.

"You think I care?" Redford countered in an uncaring voice. "Now come on, you're wasting my time just standing there."

Storm glared at the BGR captain before moving forwards and into the Python, though with some difficulty as he didn't have anything to hold him down against the floor anymore. Admiral Horner followed behind, giving his commanding officer a hand in moving forwards. The two of them entered the Python and stopped in the small room where the docking port connected.

"Admiral Horner, you can wait here while I talk with Commander Savarin," Redford said. Storm's XO simply crossed his arms across his chest and nodded in reply. He watched as Storm and the BGR captain disappeared further into the ship.

Storm looked around the room that was too familiar for his liking. Lit a bit too brightly, plain white walls, single steel table in the center with two chairs, and one door. He was currently sitting in one of the chairs waiting for Redford to return. Undoubtedly there was no reason to his absence other than to annoy the Latorii hybrid. He let out a sharp exhale as he closed his eyes and waited. A few minutes later, he heard the door open and close before someone sat down across from him at the table

"So, let us begin," Redford said as Storm opened his eyes, his bright sapphire eyes glaring into Redford's skull.

"Yes, let's. Unlike you, I actually could be doing something useful," Storm taunted in what was almost a low growl.

"Watch your mouth, mutt," Redford replied in a cross tone. "Now, during your operation on Raytheon Three you encountered one of our bases, correct?"

"Correct," Storm said as he crossed his arms across his chest. "We found it when responding to a distress call from the base itself."

"What was the status of the base upon your arrival?" Redford inquired as he took notes on an electronic pad as well as recorded the conversation.

"Completely overrun by a detachment of Latorii cavalry. There did not appear to be any fighting at the entrance to the compound. Our best guess was the defenders were caught by complete surprise," Storm answered, somewhat impressed that Redford had managed to say something without insulting him.

"Did you encounter any survivors from the attack?" Redford questioned, looking up at Storm.

"Found one soldier in the armory. He was badly wounded and died soon after we found him. He confirmed the fact they were taken by surprise," Storm said, though he knew that by saying he had come in contact with a BGR operative, there were more questions to follow.

"I need to know everything that our operative told you," Redford stated, his voice confirming what Storm feared.

"He gave us a vague description of the base's purpose after I insisted he tell me. Gave us a short description of the hyper wave research and the spike they were preparing. They were attacked during the final preparations. In order to prevent the Latorii from using the system against humanity, he and a few other soldiers sabotaged the primary reactors. That cut down the range of the spike. After that it was mostly just him mumbling as his injuries started to get the better of him," Storm replied before closing his eyes.

"And did you use your psychic powers to peer into his head?" Redford asked sternly.

"Yes, I did. He was injured and leaving out quite a few details as he tried to tell us what had happened. I didn't look for anything else. Truthfully, I don't want to know what you spooks are up to. Half of it is usually immoral and the other half is your usual spy business that I have no reason to poke around in," Storm said as he opened his eyes and glared at Redford.

"You know, I could have you executed for doing that," the BGR captain said with a sick smile.

"You could, but you won't. If you did, you would soon join me," Storm started before leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "I have allies. Powerful allies in high places. You can threaten and intimidate me all you want, but you cannot scare me."

"I am well aware of your connections, and I don't care. You Latorii are not to be trusted. Your father was a moron to be allowed to use his influence to put you in command of a ship," Redford taunted, his smirk only growing.

Storm knew the human was trying to bait him. Still, his father was his one weakness. And most BGR agents knew it. Storm clenched his paws and took a deep breath.

"You will leave my father out of this... He was a better man that all of you spooks combined," Storm practically growled out as he glared Redford.

"He was a freak who fell for an alien," Redford continued as he stood up and walked around the table.

"Last warning," Storm growled out, baring his sharp teeth.

"Or else what? As long as you are wearing that collar, you cannot touch me you stupid mu-"

Redford never finished his sentence. In the blink of an eye, Storm was out of his chair and had Redford pinned against the floor. His forearm pressing against the human's throat as his muzzle was mere inches from Redford's face as Storm used the table as leverage in the zero gravity situation to keep the human pinned down.

"Just to be perfectly clear, I could kill you right now if I wanted to," Storm started, his tone indicating that he meant what he said. "You think of me as less than you, yet I can guarantee you that I am worth more to this war effort than you ever will be."

Redford tried to kick at Storm to get the angry wolf off of him, yet his attack was countered before it connected. Storm pressed harder against his neck. By now, Redford was struggling to breathe.

"Every time I am forced to sit through these debriefings with you self-righteous pricks, it is the same thing. You treat me like an animal and slander my father," Storm stated as he continued to glare into Redford's eyes. "It ends today. I will not be trod upon by you people any longer. So tell all of your friends that if they try and do what you did today, they will come off worse than getting pinned to the floor. Understood?"

Redford let out a low croaking noise as his face was rather red at this point. Storm knew that he would never actually acknowledge what he said, but backed off anyways. Redford gasped for air as he took in several deep breaths. He wanted to rage at Storm but couldn't find the voice to do so.

"I am done here," Storm said before he turned and left the room, leaving Redford by himself. Upon opening the door, the BGR operatives were a bit surprised. They had heard the noise in the room but had figured it was the other way around, with Redford roughing up Storm. Instead they saw their commander on the ground and struggling to get up. They moved to stop Storm but one glare from his steeled sapphire eyes stopped them in their tracks. It didn't take him long to get back to where Admiral Horner was waiting.

"Come on Mark, let's get off this ship before I actually kill someone."

* * *

Long and overdue chapter is long and overdue. I really am sorry for how long it took me to get another chapter of this story out. Sadly, college has been kicking my butt lately and I have been devoting a lot of time to my studies. Not even going to try and make a prediction as to when the next chapter will be, but I promise it will eventually happen!

Anyways, I hope that you all enjoyed reading this chapter! I certainly enjoyed writing it. Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.


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